Marel has reached an agreement with the American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) on the sale of the operations of Carnitech A/S in Stovring, Denmark, a non-core operating unit.
AIAC is a privately held industrial group with a serious, long-term mission to build strong companies. The AIAC subsidiary acquiring the assets and liabilities will be renamed Carnitech.
Excluded from the agreement are Carnitech’s former salmon and freezing divisions, and its operations in the United States, which are now operated under the Marel name and management.
Marel will phase out the use of the Carnitech brand name within the coming year.
The sale represents an important step in Marel’s plan to divest of non-core operating units and to focus exclusively on the profitability and organic growth of its core business, which centres on the fish, meat, poultry and further processing segments of the food processing industry.
The assets sold incurred a loss of EUR8m before tax, which was included in the 2009 accounts, mainly due to the write off of goodwill and revalued assets.
Theo Hoen, CEO of Marel said: “The sale of Carnitech in Stovring, the last remaining major non-core operating unit, is a very positive step forward for Marel. We can now turn our undivided attention to building on our position as market leader in our core business. Following a difficult year in 2009, we feel confident that Carnitech can build a new future under this new ownership.”
