On March 4, Royal De Heus announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in D-Mix in the Ukraine.

With this partnership, De Heus said it marks a strategic step in the attractive Ukrainian market for animal feed, following more than a decade of exporting animal nutrition products to Ukraine.

The joint venture company will carry out its business activities under the trade name Koudijs Ukraine. Closing is expected in the second quarter of 2019.

D-Mix, a family-owned business managed by Fedir Shopsky, is located in Zolochiv in western Ukraine and has a strong regional position, De Heus said. D-Mix produces concentrates, specialty feeds and complete feeds, mainly for poultry and pigs.

D-Mix has a production capacity of 80,000 tons and crushes 50,000 tons of sunflower seeds and soybeans, De Heus said. Soon, the company will start construction of a premix facility, which is expected to be operational in early 2020.

The day-to-day management of the joint venture will remain in the hands of Shopsky.

“I am happy that we have transformed our long-lasting cooperation with De Heus into a partnership. De Heus is the best partner to jointly further expand our growing customer base and offer our customers extra support in professionalizing their livestock farms," Shopsky said. "I believe that the knowledge and long-term vision of De Heus will contribute a lot to the rapid growth of our joint business, and together, we will go straight forward to the next development phase.”

Ukraine is one of the most fertile areas of Central and Eastern Europe. The agriculture sector has been the engine of the Ukrainian economy for many years, according to De Heus, and the country has grown to become an important player in the international agricultural market.

De Heus noted that the size of the Ukrainian livestock market is anticipated to further increase and, consequently, so is the demand for high-quality and effective animal feed.

The Ukrainian government welcomes foreign investors that contribute additional knowledge and experience in the field of animal feed, livestock farming and farm management. De Heus said very few foreign companies have entered the Ukrainian animal feed market so far.

De Heus explained that its majority stake position is in line with its ambition to build leading market positions in countries where the animal feed market will develop strongly in the coming years.

Both De Heus and D-Mix have in-depth and specialized knowledge in the animal feed sector for poultry and pigs that will be shared and further developed through the international network and expertise of De Heus. This will enrich Koudijs Ukraine’s knowledge in the area of nutrition, livestock farming and production technology, along with accelerating innovation, improving the quality of animal feed, strengthening advice to customers and optimizing production processes, the company said.

“Koudijs Ukraine has a bright future. For many years, we continue to invest to improve our technical support to customers. We believe that our extensive experience in international livestock farming and the animal feed sector will also be of value in further professionalizing livestock farming in Ukraine,” Royal De Heus chief executive officer Koen de Heus said.

Royal De Heus is a multinational, family-owned company. Founded in 1911, it has expanded to become one of the largest players in the global animal feed industry, with locations in the Netherlands, Vietnam, Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Myanmar and India and joint ventures in Egypt, Ethiopia and Russia.

Additionally, De Heus is active in more than 70 countries through the export of concentrates and premixes, primarily in Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America.