“We see this as a partnership first and foremost. Yem-Vit have delivered consistent growth over the last number of years. The management and wider team is extremely strong and together we believe we can add value to the Turkish and wider market. We look forward to combining two great businesses to deliver a superior product and service,” Patrick McLaughlin, group chief operating officer at Devenish, told us.
Yem-Vit is an independent, family run business, and targets the poultry, ruminant and aquaculture sectors. It has new production facilities in Izmir, and is seen as one of the major brands in the Turkish premix industry; it exports throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said Devenish.
The agreement is subject to approval by competition authorities – the Belfast headquartered animal nutrition group said it expects the paperwork to be completed by the end of August.
It is the first acquisition for Devenish outside of the UK, Ireland and North America.
When asked why, the company chose to buy a stake in Yem-Vit, in particular, he said:
“We chose to work with Yem-Vit for a number of reasons. It has a fantastic reputation for delivering innovation and strong technical support to its customers, [a strategy] aligned with our own business model. It has recently developed its production facilities, ensuring that the product manufactured will be of the upmost quality, a key factor when trying to grow new business. The location of the mill also gives us an excellent base to expand throughout the Turkish and surrounding markets.”
The deal is strategic:
“Turkey is a very attractive market for Devenish to grow its business and offers us a great opportunity to expand in the region. Both companies have high growth targets and we believe the Turkish and surrounding markets have the potential to deliver further opportunities,” he added.
Interestingly, Owen Brennan, executive chair of the Northern Irish group, told us in April last year that Devenish was assessing a potential new asset in the Middle East.
“We see acquisition as the most expedient way of growing our business, finding innovative partners to help us expand. We expect the scale of our acquisitions to step up year on year,” he added.
Turkish tonnage data
The Alltech 2017 global feed survey shows ruminant feed production dominates in Turkey, with beef trumping dairy in that respect. Next largest is broiler feed, followed by production for layers, and then feed for fish farming.
That survey registered the number of feed mills operating in Turkey as 452 last year, and total feed output in that market in 2016 was 18.9 million metric tons.
Alltech reported that the Middle East saw the most significant growth of any region at over 16%. “The survey extended its reach into this region somewhat and therefore was able to procure more robust numbers,” it added.