November 20, 2007

Lallemand acquires Grenaa's yeast plant from V&S Distillers

Press release

Lallemand announces the recent acquisition of Grenaa's yeast and molasses alcohol factory, in Denmark, from V&S Distillers, leader of the Northern European spirits market. The acquisition will strengthen Lallemand's yeast production capacity to respond to the growing needs of the industry for probiotics, a booming market in the wake of the ban on antibiotic growth promoters, as well as the recently authorized Selenium yeast (Alkosel®R397), recognized for its remarkable bioavailability.

For V&S Distillers, the move is part of the group strategy to focus on its core business, which is the production, marketing and sale of branded spirits. Grenaa's yeast plant employs today a staff of around 80 people and has been registered as De Danske Gærfabrikker A/S.

Lallemand and V&S have cooperated for many years, and, Grenaa yeast plant, which answers the highest European quality standards of the feed industry such as FAMI-QS and ISO 9001, has already been producing specific live yeast and yeast extracts for our animal nutrition applications (Levucell®SC, Levucell®SB, Alkosel®R397¡­).

Jean Chagnon, President of Lallemand Inc., said: "Lallemand plans to make Grenaa the flagship plant of the specialty yeast and yeast extract business and we count on the continued leadership of Per Rasmussen, President and General Manager of  De Danske Gærfabrikker A/S, and Thomas Borg, Factory Manager and their team and the support of the other Grenaa workforce to achieve this."

"By selling our yeast operation now we will be able to strengthen our core activities, and the plant in Grenaa can be part of core business in another company, which we find the best solution for all parties. The plant in Grenaa has always contributed positively to V&S Distillers and has been an efficient and well-run part of the company, and I would like to thank all employees for an excellent performance through the years," says Rolf Cassergren, President V&S Distillers.

Lallemand, Inc. is a privately owned Canadian company specialised in yeast, bacteria and yeast derivatives, for animal nutrition, baking, winemaking and pharmaceutical industries. Lallemand is the only major supplier of yeast and bacteria that is a primary producer of both.

Lallemand Animal Nutrition is dedicated to the development, production, and marketing of profitable, natural and differentiated solutions for animal nutrition and health. Our core products are live bacteria for probiotics and silage inoculants, specific yeast for probiotics, and high value yeast derivatives.

Lallemand is a major supplier of probiotics and silage inoculants in Europe, North America and Africa. We also have a growing presence in Asia and South America. For additional information please visit www.lallemand.com

V&S Distillers is a northern European sprits company, and part of V&S Group, specialising in vodka, bitter and aquavit with production in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany and Poland. We manage a portfolio of domestic brands that are part of the national spirit traditions, regional brands that leverage synergies across borders and with the potential to succeed internationally.