Belgian family business, Dossche Mills has reached an agreement to acquire Meneba Holding BV, Rotterdam for an undisclosed sum. Both Meneba and Dossche Mills are icons of the grain markets in Belgium and the Netherlands respectively. The group will employ almost 500 staff, will mill around 1.2 million tons of wheat and will generate a rounded turnover of €350 million (US$413 million).

In their separate home markets, both companies have a strong position in the production and sale of flour, flour mixes and derived products for various applications such as bread, pastry, biscuits, the food sector and animal feed.

Kristof Dossche, CEO of Dossche Mills says: “Once we have authorization from the Meneba Works Council and anti-trust authorities, both companies need to get to know each other better before we can start integrating or planning further.”

“Dossche has been active in milling since generations, and on the Dutch market for more than 30 years. With this takeover, our customer can expect to see a broader product range, combined technical support and product development and efficient logistics,” Dossche notes.

This partnership will allow the group to serve its customers in the Benelux area, Germany and France even more efficiently from its various locations, while also offering a better service to old and new customers.

The merger will also put the groups in a strong position in terms of the export of flour outside the EU.

Dossche adds: “With the strong international position of Meneba, together with their excellent reputation in the field of flour for bakeries, we will be able to react even more effectively to the wishes of the market and implement the increase in scale desired by our customers in the Benelux area, France and Germany.”

André van der Padt, CEO Meneba also says: “With this acquisition, Meneba will finally arrive where it belongs: with a family business that thinks in terms of generations. This safeguards Meneba's future. With our combined knowledge, I am happy that we will be able to serve our customers even more effectively, throughout the Benelux area and beyond.”

The acquisition is still subject to the approval of the Meneba Works Council and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

Dossche Mills is a wheat mill producing flour, farina and multi-grain mixes for bread and pastry bakeries, and the biscuit and food sectors, at three production locations in Antwerp, Deinze and Renesse (Netherlands). In 2016, Dossche Mills recorded a turnover of more than €140 million with 250 staff. The company is part of the family-owned Dossche food products group.

For Meneba, in addition to having a production location in Rotterdam,specialtyy products such as multi-grain products are produced in Wormerveer. As well as these two locations in the Netherlands, Meneba-Taelman in Bossuit (Belgium) is also part of Meneba.