VION Sells German Convenience Retail Business

20 May 2014 --- After a careful selection process with several interested parties, the Dutch VION Food Group signed the agreements for the sale of its German Convenience Retail segment last Friday. The new main owner is a consortium of PARAGON PARTNERS, a Munich-based investment company, in combination with Jürgen Abraham and Norbert Barfuß.

Following VION's decision to concentrate on its core activities – cattle and pig slaughter and Convenience Food service – VION Food Group has divested its German Convenience Retail activities, consisting of seven production sites, 29 branches, nine fresh meat centres and three meat markets, as well as the "Lutz", "Weimarer", "Nocker", "Artland" , "Vegetaria" and "Heiter – Ihr Rheingauer Metzger" brands. The total turnover of this segment is some 435 million euro.

The buyers are convinced that the full potential of the German Convenience Retail segment can be developed under the new owner and that all conditions have been fulfilled to enable the sustainable growth of the company in the German markets of convenience and sausage products.

By opting for this consortium that invests exclusively in small and medium-sized German businesses, this segment was awarded to a buyer with many years of experience in the German and European food industry.

The new owners' intention and ability to competently and professionally continue operations was also crucial to VION's choice. Furthermore, it was always VION's objective to sell the entire segment to one investor.

The consortium will connect VION's Convenience Retail activities together and continue to develop them, making them ready for the future and further expanding them under the umbrella of Lutz Fleischwaren, a company with a long history.

The transaction was entered into subject to the customary required approvals being granted. It has been agreed that the purchase price would not be disclosed.

Paragon Partners is a private, owner-managed investment company from Munich. Established in 2004, the company uses its capital resources of about EUR 630 million to invest in established small and medium-sized businesses with a sustainable business model and attractive growth perspectives in German-speaking areas.

VION is an internationally operating, Dutch food company. VION Food produces and processes high-quality pork and beef products in the Netherlands and Germany. It supplies client-specific products and innovative products to retail, industrial and food service clients in its home markets in the Netherlands and Germany, and to the rest of the world. VION Food generates a turnover of € 7 billion. VION is not a listed company and has one shareholder, the Dutch Zuidelijke Land- en Tuinbouworganisatie (ZLTO), an agricultural and horticultural association with some 16,000 members.