Wouters’ Bakery Ingredients
Squarefield acted as exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Wouters on the divestment of its Bakery Ingredients business to Royal Zeelandia Group
On April 30, 2021, our client LIPA Family has successfully divested Wouters, a Belgium-based company specialised in bakery ingredients and oils and fats products, in two separate transactions. The oils- and fats activities have been sold to Remia, whilst the bakery ingredients activities were sold to Royal Zeelandia Group. Both buyers are well-known family-owned companies, which are each market leader in their respective industries.
The acquisition of the bakery activities by Royal Zeelandia Group is aligned with its strategy to strengthen its position in the bakery industry in Belgium and Europe, supplying ingredients and innovative bakery solutions to artisanal bakeries, (semi-) industrial bakeries and wholesale. In response to the growing demand for innovation in these markets Wouters’ process technologies are a strong addition to the existing competences of Zeelandia.
Wouters
Established in 1927, Wouters is an experienced player active in the development, production, packaging and distribution of bakery ingredients and oils and fats with customers in the bakery, foodservice and the wider food industry. By leveraging almost 100 years of experience, Wouters has strategically and geographically diversified by expanding its oils and fats supply throughout Europe, whilst focusing on the Belgian market with its bakery assortment. Wouters is headquartered in Lokeren, Belgium from where it operates its activities.
Jan Van den Berghe – Co-owner of LIPA Family and Wouters“The Squarefield team expertly assisted us during all stages of this complicated double deal in which they had to manage two different buyer groups in parallel (i.e. bakery players and oils-and-fats players). Without their tenacity to make this deal work, the process might even have been halted earlier. The LIPA Family is happy that this long process has led to a positive result for all parties involved!”
Royal Zeelandia Group
Founded in 1900, Royal Zeelandia Group has become a global player in bakery ingredients with operations in over 30 countries and sales in about 100 countries, coordinated from its headquarters in Zierikzee, the Netherlands. The company is already for 80 years present on the Belgian market with its local facility in Wommelgem, from where it serves the Belgian, French and Luxembourgish markets.