It announced this morning that it has become the majority shareholder of Biomix, the third largest player in the Colombian premix market, with a portfolio of recognized brands, such as Toxibond and Biocalcio, and products against mycotoxins as well as mineral supplements.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Founded in 1999, Biomix is mainly active in poultry. Its products also target swine and ruminants. The company has a FAMI-QS certified factory of 2,500 m2, a storage space, and employs nearly 80 people near Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city, located 400 km from the capital Bogota.
Colombia by numbers
The increasing standard of living combined with the country's political stability make Colombia a promising market, said the French group.
The country has a population of 49m; it has shown steady growth over the past 15 years. In 2017, GDP growth stood at 2.2%, according to the IMF, placing it among the largest dynamic regional economies, behind Peru.
Colombia is currently the fourth largest livestock feed market in Latin America, behind Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. It is also the third largest poultry producer in Latin America, with 774 million broiler chickens in 2017 and a 9% production increase in recent years, as per data from FENAVI, the Colombian poultry trade association.
Hitting the asset trail
Neovia, itself in the process of being acquired by ADM, has been rounding up assets of late.
In September, it announced it had Ecuadorian shrimp feed manufacturer, Balnova.
The French company said the deal would consolidate its presence in the shrimp feed segment - last year saw Neovia buy out US larval feed and probiotics producer, Epicore, which also operates a division in Ecuador focused on the shrimp sector.
Ecuador is one of the largest shrimp producing markets, ranked fourth worldwide; it is a market that has been attracting the interest of leading fish feed players such as BioMar, Cargill and Skretting, in recent years.
Eric de Seguins Pazzis, marketing and business development director at Neovia, said the deal was in keeping with its strategy to make aquaculture one of its seven focus activities, with predicted growth in aquaculture of +450% by 2040 globally.
Nigerian expansion
In June, Neovia reported that it had bought a Nigerian premix company, Hi Nutrients, in a move it said would help accelerate its expansion within Africa.
The French company became the majority shareholder in that premix firm.
Hi Nutrients, founded in 2004, specializes in the production of premixes, vitamins and minerals for poultry, dairy cows and aquaculture.
Feed millers and integrators in the West African country are the Nigerian firm's target customers, a spokesperson for Neovia told us back then.
Employing close to 100 people, Hi Nutrients has offices and a production plant close to Lagos; it holds close to a 50% share of the domestic poultry market and has good regional coverage through its network of six distribution centers; it also exports product to Ghana, reported the French group.
The particular appeal of Nigeria for Neovia is its demographics: "Nigeria is a growing market and the rising population is dramatically increasing the demand for animal proteins."
