The merger of two leading Dutch mussel and oyster companies this month, in an EUR 80 million (USD 89.7 million) deal, continues a pattern of mergers and acquisitions in the industry over the past year, a time of difficult trading conditions.
The most recent deal is between two family-owned businesses located in Yerseke, the Netherlands, with Roem van Yerseke and Koninklijke Prins & Dingemanse announcing they will operate as one company under the Roem van Yerseke banner. The new company will be the largest mussel and oyster processor in the Netherlands, and will also continue to process shrimp.
The companies’ well-known brand names, Zeeland's Roem and Prins & Dingemanse, will continue to be offered in the in the retail and foodservice sectors.
The two neighbors initiated merger talks in the fall of 2019, and the deal took nearly nine months to complete, according to a press release. The move will help the companies improve their competitiveness in national and international markets, they said. All of Roem van Yerseke’s approximately 100 employees or the 35 employees of Prins & Dingemanse will retain their jobs, and the new entity will also continue to employ around 60 seasonal staff.
"Where we used to be rivals, we will achieve the opposite with our merger, as it will enable us to strengthen our market position in a unique way,” Roem van Yerseke Director Johan Lacor said. “It has expanded our number of mussel cultivation and seed nursery plots, and along with their geographical spread, we have a strong and valuable asset.”
Prins & Dingemanse Managing Director Jan Prins said the larger operational capacity of Roem van Yerseke will give it a better ability to provide a consistent supply of high-quality products to the market.
"It will give us a considerable advantage in terms of the availability of these natural products, and maintaining their consistent quality throughout the year," he said.
Earlier this year, it was announced that two other Dutch shellfish companies, Aquamossel and Triton-Yerseke, would continue as one, under the name Aquamossel-Triton. In the long-term, the company’s two processing facilities will be merged into one location.
In 2019, the family-run Dutch Barbe group and Germany's Leuschel combined their processing and trading operations in a joint venture, under the name Aquamossel, which was already a Barbe brand. Under this deal, the Leuschel and Barbe families kept their own mussel cultivation grounds.
At the time of the Aquamossel-Triton merger, the newly formed company became the largest processor of fresh mussels in Yerseke, commanding one-third of the fresh mussel market, with an annual turnover of more than EUR 60 million (USD 67.3 million).
Photo courtesy of Roem van Yerseke
