“In addition to the planned spin-off of the ice cream business as an independent company, planned for the beginning of next year, DMK aims to improve its position still further by expanding its production capacity,” DMK said in a statement issued at the end of November.
DMK was unavailable for comment this morning. But as a type of divestiture, a spin-off normally involves the creation of an independent company via the sale of or distribution of shares in a business or division of a parent company.
The same DMK release revealed that, as of November 24, negotiations were still ongoing between DMK and Durigon (which has a turnover of around €20m) regarding a sale of the latter, after it encountered financial difficulties in September and began seeking a potential buyer.
DMK drools over Durigon…
DMK said that both it and Durigon had reached agreement in principle, and intended to complete the acquisition “as soon as possible”, with relevant papers already filed with the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt).
But only last Friday, UK-based R&R Ice Cream announced that it had clinched a deal for Durigon, and the Bundeskartellamt published a notification regarding the potential acquisition on November 29.
Anticipating the acquisition that did not come off, Frederic Dervieux, executive vice president of DMK’s ice cream division said at on November 24: “DMK envisages nothing but advantages from the acquisition of ice cream manufacturer Durigon.
“The company has a factory with state-of-the-art equipment, and an optimum, future-proof infrastructure, as well as an attractive product range which will complement our existing portfolio.”
DMK currently produces ice cream products at plants in Everswinkel and Schwanewede-Brundorf in Münsterland, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The company said it produced more than 100m litres and 300 varieties of ice cream at the two sites, with 40 per cent of the product exported abroad to more than 25 countries worldwide.