Vandemoortele, a Belgian leading family-owned food group with a strong presence in Margarines and Plant-Based Oils & Fats in Europe, announces that it has reached an agreement with Bunge to acquire its European Margarines & Spreads business
With this acquisition, Vandemoortele further reinforces the commitment of its Plant-Based Food Solutions business line to support the European food sector transition to more sustainable and tasty plant-based foods.
“We aspire to be a frontrunner in the plant-based food transition!”, says Jean Vandemoortele, Chairman of the Board. “Not only in the core categories of Margarine and Plant-Based Oils & Fats, but also in the growth categories of Sauces, Vinaigrettes & Dressings, Vegetable Creams and Plant-Based Cheese.”
Bunge’s Margarines & Spreads activities in Europe represent a turnover above 450 million Euro, employing over 800 people and operating production plants in Germany, Poland and Finland, covering a portfolio of 20 brands.
“This acquisition offers an interesting geographic complementarity.”, says Yvon Guerin, CEO of Vandemoortele. “We already serve a strong customer base in Western and Southern Europe with high quality and innovative plant-based products. Now, we can expand our presence in Central Eastern Europe and Scandinavia too.”
Like Vandemoortele, Bunge’s European Margarines & Spreads business commercially distributes its products across B2C (retail) and B2B channels (professional and industry).
“I am convinced that this transaction will allow us to bring even more and stronger innovations across all channels in Europe and will allow us to better serve our international customer base.”, says Bart Bruyneel, Managing Director Plant-Based Food Solutions. ” Bunge’s European Margarines & Spreads business has a proven track record of delivering innovative branded products in B2C, recently exemplified by their plant butter platform. We are historically strong in enabling B2B customers with differentiating solutions.”
While an agreement to acquire is now signed, the transaction is subject to merger control and expected to close in the course of 2026. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Rothschild & Co acted as M&A Advisor on the transaction for Vandemoortele, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as Legal Advisor, Linklaters LLP as Legal Advisor for financing, Deloitte as Financial Advisor and PwC as Tax Advisor.
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