May 5, 2008

France's Invivo buys 50 percent of Brazil's feed company Vitagri

France's animal feed cooperative InVivo has acquired 50 percent in Brazil, Parana state based Vitagri.

Vitagri runs plants at Apucarana with an output to 1.5 million tonnesnes per year of animal feed (poultry, hogs, cattle). The company has 100 employees and sales of US$36 million reals (US$21.9 million) a year.

Joao Guilherme Brenner, president and one of the partners in Vitagri, expects the investment to help double the company size within two years and reach a national presence.

The animal feed industry association Sindiracoes expects the national market to expand to 70 million tonnesnes per year by 2010, 30 percent above 2007 and with a market value of US$10 billion.