February 18, 2010

Marel Food Systems sells Danish non-core operating unit

Marel Food Systems has reached an agreement with the American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) on the sale of Carnitech in Stovring, Denmark, a non-core operating unit.

The AIAC subsidiary acquiring the assets and liabilities will be renamed Carnitech. The company said that Carnitech's former salmon and freezing divisions as well as its operations in the US are excluded from the agreement.

The buyer acquires the operational assets and liabilities of the Carnitech operations. The real estate assets of the company in Stovring are also not included in the agreement.

According to Marel CEO Theo Hoen, the sale represents an important step in its plan to divest itself of non-core operating units and to focus exclusively on the profitability and organic growth of its core business, which centres on the fish, meat, poultry and further processing segments of the food processing industry.

The parties have entered into a long-term rental agreement with an option for the buyer to acquire the premises. The assets sold incurred a loss of EUR8 million before tax, which was included in the 2009 accounts, mainly due to the write-off of goodwill and re-valued assets. The agreement between the parties was closed on February 12, 2010.

Carnitech's business focuses primarily on the development, manufacturing and sale of equipment for the food processing industry but its products fall outside the scope of Marel's core business.

The product range includes lifting and discharging equipment, customised handling and storage solutions and thin plate production equipment. In 2009, the unit accounted for 3.7% of Marel's revenues, with a turnover of EUR20 million.