German meat processor Toennies says that the next generation will lead the company, quelling sales rumors
Germany's largest meat processor Toennies is growing and expanding as the next generation of the family is taking over, managing partners of it said on Friday 19 March, declining to comment on a report that the group was seeking a buyer.
22 March 2021
3 minute read
By: "We do not comment on market rumours. After all, it is we who create the market and push for expansion," Clemens Toennies and Maximilian Toennies said in a letter to staff that was seen by Reuters.
"Interested groups" were spreading sales rumors, it said.
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that the family owners were seeking buyers for the 50-year-old firm and that a deal could value it at €4 billion ($4.8 billion).
Clemens Toennies owns around 45% of the stock, his nephew Robert Toennies around 50% and Clemens' son Maximilian around 5%.
"With Maximilian, the next generation is active in management, our international expansion is progressing step by step," the letter said.
Toennies could be seen as a target for peers such as Tyson Foods, JBS SA and China's WH Group and talks could start within weeks, Bloomberg said.
Toennies had hit the headlines after a coronavirus outbreak at its main plant in North Rhine-Westphalia last year, which hit more then 1,500 of its staff and led to a temporary closure of the site.
Read more about this story on Reuters.
($1 = €0.8379)
