On Nov. 29, Royal De Heus signed an agreement for the acquisition of the Evialis Galicia compound feed plant in Spain from Archer Daniels Midland Co.

With a volume of more than 50,000 metric tons of compound feed annually, Evialis Galicia has a leading regional position in northern Spain, De Heus said, noting that the acquisition is consistent with its strategy to strengthen its position in the large Iberian animal feed market.

Evialis Galicia, located in Sada (near A Coruña), was founded in 1974 by a collaboration of pig farmers to produce feed for their own sows. Currently, the company offers a complete assortment of compound feeds for multiple animal categories, with a focus on feed for dairy cattle and rabbits, De Heus said.

The activities and market approach of Evialis Galicia and De Heus are highly consistent with each other, according to the announcement. Like De Heus, Evialis Galicia focuses mainly on the open feed market. Within this market, both De Heus and Evialis Galicia sell their products to farmers directly as well as via a dealer network.

In order to comply with the high quality standards of De Heus, an investment program will be started that results in optimization of and improvements in the production process, the company said.

“We are pleased with this acquisition. The takeover underlines our ambition to further reinforce our market position in Spain. This new plan enables us to improve our logistic service for customers in this region,” De Heus Iberia general manager Jean François Honoré said.

Royal de Heus is a multinational family company. Founded in 1911, Royal De Heus has expanded to become one of the largest players in the animal feed industry, with business units in the Netherlands, Vietnam, Brazil, Poland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Myanmar, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, Ukraine and Russia.

Additionally, De Heus is active in more than 70 countries through the export of concentrates and premixes, the main ones being in Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America. Globally, the company has more than 6,000 employees and a head office in Ede, Netherlands.