Polish meat processors to merge
Omega Holding, a company controlled by local businessman Zbigniew Dworakowski who owns Unimięs and ZM Peklimar, has submitted an application to the country’s competition watchdog UOKiK to obtain its permission to merge with Madej Wróbel.
Expanded product range
“Merging the four plants will allow us to increase the specialisation and range of the products on offer, which should translate into a further increase in sales revenue, and allow us to sell products to new customers,” Mariusz Biernat, who is to be appointed the retail sales director of the new entity, told local business daily Puls Biznesu.
Hanna Orłowska from CIC Corporate Finance, a local consultancy firm that advises Madej Wróbel on the merger, said the new entity would have revenues of about PLN1 billion (€232m) per year. Madej Wrobel reported annual sales of about PLN430m (€100m), while ZM Peklimar and Unimięs are estimated to post revenues of some PLN 500m (€116m) per year.
“We expect there will be an increased stratification among companies from the meat industry. There will be those who manage to develop their production, and those who will face increased issues with their day-to-day operation. This second category will include many companies with annual revenues of up to PLN100m,” Orłowska said. “This should foster and accelerate the process of the industry’s consolidation and concentration.”
Market challenges
Local observers said the new meat processing group could challenge the market position of Animex Foods and Sokołów, the two leading industry players that are owned by foreign-based investors. Sokołów posts annual revenues of about DKK5.8bn (€1.346m) per year, according to data from Danish Crown, its owner. Animex Foods is owned by Smithfield Foods, and reports annual sales of some PLN4bn (€928m).
The shareholding structure of the new entity was not disclosed by the two parties. Under Polish law, UOKiK’s approval is prerequisite to finalising all mergers and takeovers of Poland-based entities, and the concerned companies posted aggregate revenues of at least €1bn worldwide, or €50m in the domestic market in the preceding year.
Based in Nowe Proboszczewice, in central Poland, ZM Peklimar specialises in processed pork meat products, including sausages, frankfurters, hams and other items. The company says its two facilities in Poland are IFS- and BRC-certified.
Unimięs operates a meat processing plant in Chrzanów, in Poland’s southern region, where the company is also headquartered. The meat processor specialises in poultry and pork meat products. These include ham, bacon, mortadella-style ham, sausage, blood sausage and dry sausage products. Unimięs said that some of its export destinations included the UK, Germany, Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Set up in 1992, Madej Wróbel is based in Ruda Śląska, in south-west Poland. The meat processor specialises in making pork meat products, including sausages, dry sausages and hams.
