December 12, 2006

Danish Crown to buy Hungarian meat processor

Denmark's Danish Crown, top meat processor in the country and a leader on the European meat market, has made an offer to buy Hungary's meat processor Gyulai Huskombinat Zrt., J¨¢nos Ruck, chief executive of Gyulai said.

Gyulai is the fourth of fifth largest meat processor in Hungary. The addition of Gyulai into the fold of companies Danish Crown already owns would create a strong base for Eastern European expansion, experts said. 

Danish Crown's annual sales are some 200,000 tonnes, while Gyula H¨²skombin¨¢t sells only about 7,000 tonnes of meat a year.

Danish Crown, which hires 25,000 workers has a turnover of EUR6.5 billion last year. It accounts for 90 percent of pig slaughter in Denmark and 59 percent of cattle slaughter.

Gyulai has been looking for a buyer after sustaining losses for years. US meat giant Smithfield was reportedly interested in the sale.