German Oetker Gruppe, known for its frozen Dr. Oetker pizzas, has acquired Belgian industrial bakery Diversi Foods. The company is a major frozen bread supplier for Belgian and Dutch supermarket chains.
Frozen bread
Diversi Foods creates all types of bakery products, but has gained fame for its frozen bread, baked in local supermarkets. It has companies in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. Waterland acquired the company in 2014 and rapidly expanded the production thanks to a series of acquisitions. Diversi Foods generated a 136.9 million euro turnover last year, with 55.3 million euro in Belgium. The goal for this year is to surpass 150 million euro.
Thanks to this acquisition, Oetker Gruppe can launch bread activities in several new countries. The group’s own bread company, Martin Braun, is active in Germany, Italy and France with a 350 million euro turnover. Its core business are croissants and pastries, but bread not as much.
Employees will keep their job
“After the acquisition is finalized, Martin Braun will sell the entire range of frozen bread products in Europe. Our service will exponentially expand”, chairman Detlev Krüger said, according to De Tijd.
Diversi Foods’ board and staff will keep their job after the acquisition (for an undisclosed fee) and the company will mostly keep working autonomously.
