The Deprez family founders of Belgium fruit and vegetable group Greenyard have successfully secured a majority share in the business as part of a takeover.
Hein Deprez and his family launched a takeover offer for Brussels-listed Greenyard in April, seeking to purchase shares they did not already own in the business from shareholders.
A new holding company was set up to house the family’s existing 37.7% interest, along with any newly acquired shares – Garden based in Luxembourg.
In a statement today (18 July), it was revealed that Garden, effectively the Deprez family, has now taken its ownership to 94.71% of Greenyard’s shares as part of the bid process.
The tendered price for the shares was €7.4 ($8.6) each, the same price as the initial offer put forward in the April announcement. Payment will be made no later than the 4 August, according to the statement.
Despite not meeting the 95% acceptance threshold set forth in April, Garden has now waived that requirement but will reopen the bid offer on 24 July until 13 August.
“Shareholders who have not yet accepted the offer will have the opportunity to tender their shares in the offer during this subsequent acceptance period,” Garden said, with the aim of eventually acquiring 100% of Greenyard’s shares.
The acquisition strategy is supported by Solum Partners, a food and agriculture investment manager headquartered in Massachusetts. It will co-control Garden with the Deprez family after the transaction.
Greenyard will be delisted from the Euronext Brussels exchange once full control is achieved.
Mr Deprez founded what was then Univeg in 1987 before the company became Greenyard. In 2015 a merger between Greenyard, Univeg and agribusiness Peatinvest emerged, with Hein Deprez owning shares in each of those businesses before the deal was completed.
Under previous notifications, Greenyard aims to reach €5.4bn in annual sales by March 2026, along with an adjusted EBITDA of €200-210m.
In the first half of the current financial year, sales rose 6.1% to €2.6bn, driven by price increases and volume growth.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 4.6% to €94.4m, while net profit was €1.2m.
In the recent full financial year (2023/24), Greenyard’s sales increased 10.9% to €5.1bn.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 11.5% to €186.5m, and net profit was up 63% at €15.2m.
