Lamb Weston/Meijer
Squarefield acted as exclusive financial advisor to Lamb Weston/Meijer on the acquisition of the potato division of Oerlemans Food
On April 26, 2017, our client Lamb Weston/Meijer (“LWM” or the “Company”), a market-leading producer of branded frozen potato products, agreed to acquire the potato division of Oerlemans Foods, including a take-over of the production plant in Broekhuizenvorst.
Lamb Weston
Lamb Weston is a world-leading brand in high quality potato products, being sold in over 100 countries around the world. LWM serves markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil. In addition, the Company established a Joint Venture with the Russian Belaya Dacha to build a French fry factory in Russia. LWM supplies frozen potato products to customers in the Foodservice, Quick Service and Retail segments. The Company, headquartered in Kruiningen in the Netherlands, employs 1,300 employees and operates five production facilities: three in the Netherlands, one in the United Kingdom and one in Austria.
With the acquisition, LWM responds to both the increasing demand for frozen potato products as well as the growth ambitions of its customers. The Oerlemans plant fits very well in the existing network of LWM locations in the Netherlands. This acquisition increases production capacity by 85,000 tonnes and the Broekhuizenvorst plant provides opportunities for further expansions in the future.
Gert-Jan van den Berg – Vice President International Development Lamb Weston“Squarefield has played a very useful role in this process. Their knowledge of doing business in the food & agri sectors, their experience with private equity investors, combined with a hands-on approach, appeal to me a lot. They were an inherent part of the internal project team and the Squarefield guys are fun to work with. The combination of in-depth strategic views, substantial food & agri knowledge, excellent project management and M&A skills make Squarefield unique in its kind.”