Cargill Announces Acquisition of German Chocolate Business

MOUSCRON, Belgium, Jan. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cargill is expanding its cocoa and chocolate business in Europe through the acquisition of the business of Schwartauer Werke GmbH & Co. KG Kakao Verarbeitung Berlin, ("KVB"), an integrated chocolate company based in Germany.

KVB has two production plants, both in Berlin, Germany.  The two plants have a capacity of over 75,000 tonnes of chocolate per year and employ around 180 people.  Upon completion of the deal, after clearance from the regulatory authorities, KVB and its employees will become part of Cargill's global network of cocoa and chocolate businesses, and benefit from the greater scale of the integrated operation.

"This acquisition marks a significant step in Cargill's chocolate growth strategy in Europe and our ability to better serve our existing and future customers" commented Jos de Loor, head of Cargill's cocoa and chocolate business. "The acquisition will strengthen Cargill's position in Germany, the largest chocolate market in Europe, and create opportunities to expand our chocolate business into new markets."

KVB's two Berlin plants will complement Cargill's existing German cocoa and chocolate facilities in Klein Schierstedt and Hamburg.  Once integrated into Cargill, the business and its customers will fully benefit from Cargill's deep knowledge in cocoa and chocolate and its broad expertise in food ingredients and technologies.

Combining KVB's expertise with Cargill's consistently high standards in chocolate, its access to high quality beans at origin, and its ability to manage ingredient price risks will stimulate further growth.

De Loor added: "The integration of the KVB chocolate assets and people into Cargill will strengthen our ability to deliver efficient and innovative solutions for our customers.  We plan to invest significantly in KVB's facilities to create a superior chocolate house that will enable us to offer customers greater choice, higher quality and extended market reach."

Hermann Hauertmann, CEO of KVB, commented: "This transaction provides the basis for continued growth of KVB, both in Germany as well as internationally.  The global network of Cargill opens up new opportunities in terms of supply chain and optimized cost structures to the benefit of our customers.  We are confident that our people and our operations will deliver significant value to Cargill's existing Cocoa and Chocolate business and look forward to develop innovative quality products for our valued customers."

Completion of the acquisition is expected in the first part of 2011.

Notes for editors:

Cargill Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services.  Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people in 66 countries.  Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to sharing its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business.

For more information, visit http://www.cargill.com.

About Cargill in Germany

Cargill has been active in Germany since 1955 and has around 1,600 employees in 12 locations in the country - in Barby, Frankfurt-Hochst, Hamburg (three locations), Klein Schierstedt, Krefeld, Malchin, Mainz, Riesa, Salzgitter and Wittenberge where it has a joint venture producing biodiesel with Agravis Raiffeisen AG.  

About Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate

Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate offers the food industry a wide range of both standard and customised cocoa and chocolate ingredients to be used in bakery, confectionery, and dairy applications all over the world.  Our product range includes high quality Gerkens® cocoa powders, chocolate, coatings, fillings, cocoa liquors and cocoa butters.  With years of experience in technical food expertise Cargill supports its customers in new recipes and new product development.

To secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans we have cocoa bean sourcing operations in the cocoa growing countries of the world and processing plants in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, France, Germany, Ghana, the Netherlands, UK and the USA - fully dedicated to produce in accordance with the highest food safety standards and resulting in delicious cocoa and chocolate products for our customers.  

About KVB

Schwartauer Werke Kakao Verarbeitung Berlin (KVB) is one of the leading German business-to-business cocoa and chocolate manufacturers. With more than 45 years of experience in the production of chocolate and semi finished cocoa products, KVB has developed unique product expertise for national and international customers. Customers range from large, small and medium sized European confectionary producers in the chocolate, baking and ice-cream industry.  KVB sources from cocoa producing countries all over the world and is committed to deliver tailored solutions to its customers whether they need standard or highly specialised cocoa products.

KVB is part of the AOH Nahrungsmittel Group located in Bad Schwartau.  The AOH Group of companies which also include Schwartauer Werke as well as the Swiss based Hero Group is controlled by Dr. Arend Oetker.

http://www.cargill.com/news-center/news-releases/index.jsp

SOURCE Cargill