VR Equitypartner sells European Convenience Food investment

Frank­furt am Main / Garrel — Fran­k­­furt-based private equity firm VR Equi­typ­art­ner (“VREP”) has sold its signi­fi­cant mino­rity stake in Euro­pean Conve­ni­ence Food GmbH (“ECF”), a leading manu­fac­tu­rer of high-quality frozen food products, to the French food group Lambert Dodard Chan­cer­eul (“LDC Group”). As part of the tran­sac­tion, LDC Group, one of the Euro­pean market leaders in the poul­try sector and in the produc­tion of fresh and frozen conve­ni­ence products, which is majo­rity family-owned and listed on the Paris stock exch­ange, is acqui­ring the shares of all inves­tors in full. Some members of the ECF manage­ment team will conti­nue to be invol­ved in the form of a re-inves­t­­ment. The ECF Group was formed in 2014 through the merger of the compa­nies Karl Kemper Conve­ni­ence GmbH (“Karl Kemper”) and Eich­kamp GmbH & Co. KG (“Eich­kamp”) and has deve­lo­ped into a leading player in the out-of-home cate­ring sector. The product range compri­ses over 230 products, which are sold under the Vegeta, Karl Kemper and new leaf brands. ECF also offers custo­mi­zed deep-freeze solu­ti­ons for the food proces­sing indus­try as well as indi­vi­dual private label products. The inno­va­tive vege­ta­rian product range has been parti­cu­larly successful in recent years — in line with the social mega­trend of an incre­asingly meat-free diet. In 2023, the Group gene­ra­ted conso­li­da­ted sales of almost 80 million euros, of which around 50% was attri­bu­ta­ble to the vege­ta­rian product range. VREP became the largest single inves­tor in 2013 with a signi­fi­cant mino­rity stake and, toge­ther with a group of inves­tors, merged the two medium-sized compe­ti­tors Karl Kemper and Eich­kamp under the umbrella of the newly foun­ded ECF as part of a “buy-and-build” stra­tegy. In the follo­wing years, VREP consis­t­ently supported the manage­ment team in the inte­gra­tion of both compa­nies, the realignment and strin­gent imple­men­ta­tion of the growth stra­tegy as well as a targe­ted repo­si­tio­ning of the product range, as a result of which ECF achie­ved a market-leading posi­tion and at the same time took a leading posi­tion in the growing market for vege­ta­rian and vegan frozen products. “Toge­ther with the manage­ment team and our co-inves­­tors, we have achie­ved a great deal in recent years and crea­ted profi­ta­ble, sustainable growth,” explains Peter Sachse, Mana­ging Direc­tor at VR Equi­typ­art­ner (photo: VREP). “With its excel­lent product quality, the consis­tent expan­sion of the vege­ta­rian and vegan segment and an outstan­ding opera­tio­nal set-up, ECF is ideally equip­ped for this deman­ding market. I am convin­ced that we have found the ideal part­ner for ECF’s next phase of growth in the LDC Group.” Bruno Lafon, CEO of LDC Inter­na­tio­nal: “The acqui­si­tion of ECF enables us to enter the stra­te­gi­cally important German market. We are deligh­ted that in ECF we have found an ideal plat­form company for further growth, whose strength and exper­tise in the out-of-home food market will greatly enrich us. Not only are we an excel­lent stra­te­gic fit, we also share common values and visi­ons for the future.” 

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose details of the contract.

VR Equi­typ­art­ner at a glance

VR Equi­typ­art­ner is one of the leading equity finan­ciers in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land. The company supports medium-sized family busi­nesses in a goal-orien­­ted manner and with deca­des of expe­ri­ence in the stra­te­gic solu­tion of complex finan­cing issues. Invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties include growth and expan­sion finan­cing, corpo­rate succes­sion or share­hol­der chan­ges. VR Equi­typ­art­ner offers majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments as well as mezza­nine finan­cing. As a subsi­diary of DZ BANK, the central insti­tu­tion of the coope­ra­tive banks in Germany, VR Equi­typ­art­ner consis­t­ently puts the sustaina­bi­lity of corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment ahead of short-term exit thin­king. VR Equitypartner’s port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 40 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 400 million. Further infor­ma­tion can be found at www.vrep.de. LDC at a glance

LDC (Lambert Dodard Chan­cer­eul) is a French family busi­ness specia­li­zing in the proces­sing and distri­bu­tion of poul­try and the produc­tion of fresh and frozen deli­ca­tes­sen products. With 102 loca­ti­ons, 25,000 employees and a turno­ver of 6.2 billion euros, the LDC Group is one of the Euro­pean market leaders in the poul­try sector and is repre­sen­ted in France, Poland, Hungary, Belgium and the United King­dom. The company markets its products under the Loué, Le Gaulois, Maître CoQ, Doux, Marie, Tradi­ti­ons d’Asie, Drosed and Nature et Respect brands. Its mission: to promote food sove­reig­nty while respec­ting people and nature. The LDC Group is listed on the Paris stock exch­ange and is expe­ri­en­cing sustainable, balan­ced and control­led growth, both orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons in Europe. The VR Equi­typ­art­ner tran­sac­tion team: Daniel Seifert, Chris­tof Schmitt, Chris­tian Ockenfuß 

Consul­ting firms invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion by VREP:

M&A: Houli­han Lokey (James Scal­lan) Legal: Noerr (Dr. Martin Neuhaus, Florian Döpking) Finance and Tax: Deloitte (Stefan Götzen) Commer­cial: Roland Berger (Martin Weissbart)