AgriBio Group, Dummen to Merge
Breeding and young plant production companies Dummen and Agribio Group have announced they plan to merge.
The merger will combine the advanced breeding technologies of Agribio Group and the professional supply chain skills of Dummen.
Grower and retailers will benefit from a complete product portfolio, while retaining the close-to-customer attitude for which both companies are known.
Based in Germany, Dummen has a strong reputation in poinsettia and spring annuals like geraniums, while Dutch-based Agribio Group is strong in products as chrysanthemum, carnation, rose and Calandiva. The intended merger will create a breeding company with a unique international production and sales network and a broad assortment of cut flowers, pot and bedding plants.
The combined company will have approximately 6,000 employees worldwide with $235 million sales annually. The Dummen family and management and H2 Equity Partners will be the shareholders of the new company.
The new company will follow a growth strategy and is committed to continuously invest in R&D, product quality and marketing to ensure the highest level of quality and service to its customers.
The new company will have two independent divisions. The Agribio division will be responsible for cut flowers and pot plants, and the Dummen division will be responsible for bedding plants and poinsettia.
The Agribio division will be headed by Harry Kloppenburg, currently CEO of Agribio Group. The Dummen division will be headed by Tobias Dummen and Perry Wismans, current board members of Dummen.
The North American operations of Agribio Group (including Oro Farms and Ecke) will be brought under the leadership of the Dummen division. The directors of the two divisions will form the board of the new company together with the current board members of Agribio Group, Roger Gerritzen (CFO), Roger Peeters (director R&D) and Peter Kroeze (Chairman).
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“For the Dummen family, this is an important step to add global market presence for our company, add value for our customers, and increase development opportunities for our employees. We consider this to be a major project, which needs careful attention in the execution,” says Tobia Dummen. “We are committed to retaining our family values and our grower-to-grower attitude focused on delivering top quality at the right terms. We believe that both companies will benefit from each other’s key strengths and that combining these will be beneficial to our customers.”
“Ever since the company became independent in 2010 we have actively pursued a growth strategy focused on complementing our portfolio and market presence. Because of this merger we are virtually capable of offering the full range of products in all continents,” states Kloppenberg. “Hence we have the opportunity to create a unique company, focused on supplying new and differentiating products with a good price/quality ratio to our customer’s thereby creating added value to the entire floricultural chain. We are impressed by Dummen’s deep knowledge of the industry and its category management skills, something we can certainly benefit from.”
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