Puratos Group Enters Vietnamese Joint Venture

The joint venture, which will be known as Puratos Grand-Place Vietnam, represents a total investment of 10 million US Dollars over a five-year period into three different lines of business; namely, bakery, patisserie and chocolate.

12 Oct 2012 --- The Puratos Group and Grand-Place Holding, two international groups active in the B2B supply of raw materials and ingredients to the food industry, have finalised the negotiations for a joint venture agreement in Vietnam, due to be in effect as of January 2013. The signing marks the start of a project that will support the growth of both Groups in the region.

During the signing ceremony, which took place today at the Grand-Place factory in Binh Duong, Puratos Group and Grand-Place Holding agreed on the creation a joint venture (70% Puratos – 30% Grand-Place) to join forces on the Vietnamese market and within the region. The joint venture, which will be known as Puratos Grand-Place Vietnam, represents a total investment of 10 million US Dollars over a five-year period into three different lines of business; namely, bakery, patisserie and chocolate. The investment will support the increase in production capacity of both Groups, as well as the construction of a new distribution centre in Binh Duong to improve logistics and service for the entire market. In addition, there will be a new R&D and Innovation Center to service local customers.

The two Groups, who both have their roots in Belgium, confirm their long-term commitment to the Vietnamese market. Both made their first investment in Vietnam some ten years ago, when the market was still fairly small and uncertain. Piet Sanders, Regional Director Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific at Puratos, comments on the new joint venture: “With the growing population in the region and the rapid development of the bakery, patisserie and chocolate industry in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, this is the perfect time to strengthen our position in the market. Thanks to this joint venture, we will also be able to meet the needs of the full range of customers, from artisan, semi-industry and industry to supermarket and food service.”

Last but not least, the joint venture will also initiate an ambitious vertical integration project – from locally grown cocoa beans to chocolate drops – by turning the existing Grand-Place collection and fermentation pilot station into an industrial plant. As a result of this, the joint venture will become one of the major players for the use and promotion of Vietnamese cocoa beans. Gricha Safarian, current owner of Grand-Place Holding, who will take on the role of Managing Director of the new joint venture, concludes: “My team and myself are most excited about this joint venture and are really looking forward to start the cooperation with Puratos Group. We have been working hard on this market for many years and joining force with another Belgian group, a global player in his field, is going to provide us with the means of a strong acceleration of our long term plans. This is aimed to become a ‘1 + 1 = 3’ collaboration.”

Puratos is an international group, which offers a full range of innovative products, raw materials and application expertise for artisans, industry, retailers and food service customers in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors. Our headquarters are located on the outskirts of Brussels (Belgium), where the company was founded in 1919. Today, our products and services are available in over 100 countries around the world. In many cases, they are produced locally by our subsidiaries. Above all, we aim to be ‘reliable partners in innovation’ across the globe to help our customers deliver nutritious, tasty food to their local communities.

Grand-Place, «Gardener of Chocolate», is an independent B2B Belgian group offering a full range of couverture chocolate, compound chocolate, decorations and cocoa products to the Confectionery industry as well as to Foodservice, Bakery and Ice cream industry. Headquartered in Belgium, Grand-Place Holding has a long history of being pioneer in its field on specific markets, mostly in Asia. The first establishment in Vietnam goes back to 1993, today, as the leading chocolate manufacturer in Vietnam, GPV is also proud to implement a rather unique model “from beans to bar” in the origin country, a full vertical integration that links the farmers and their beans to the confectionery industry in Vietnam.