The Bonduelle Group, European vegetable leader, has just acquired a minority interest in Aliments Carrière, Canada’s frozen and canned vegetable leader, which holds over 70% of market share.
Private sector Aliments Carrière’s head office is in Saint Denis de Richelieu, Québec. It is backed by a workforce of 800 and has seven vegetable processing plants, four in Québec and three in Ontario.
Its sales for the 05/06 financial year (closed at end April) reached almost 300 million CAD (€210m), 40% coming from canned vegetables (Canada) and 60% from frozen vegetables (Canada & USA).
The majority of sales (60%) were achieved in retail circuits (mass market sales), through its own brand “Arctic Gardens,” Québec’s frozen foods leader, and through its customer brands.
The North American vegetable market is being buoyed by the fight against obesity, but still suffers from a “basic” offer both in retail and in foodservice. Aliments Carrière hopes that this joint venture with Bonduelle will boost its knowledge of high added value products, a segment that is much more sophisticated in Europe, making it a way to increase the company’s potential for growth.
Bonduelle’s stake will progressively grow to 25% between June and October 2006, resulting from the immediate acquisition of Québec financial institution Mouvement Desjardins’ 13% stake. This will be followed by an acquisition of other shareholders’ partial stakes (Ostiguy family and supervision) and that of Bonduelle Inc, the Bonduelle Group’s US subsidiary created in 1998 and based in Millington, New Jersey.