Curator NutriDutch hopes for a second restart

He doesn't want to say much about it himself, because he is far too busy researching the options, his office said. However, insiders say that, if possible, production will continue again.

Focus on higher WPCs
NutriDutch owner Metha Capital invested heavily in new installations during the company's first restart in 2016. These are also interesting for a possible new party. The market needs to be a little more cooperative. It is precisely the pricing of the 'higher WPCs' (whey protein concentrates), which Nutridutch largely focused on, which has had a major negative impact in recent years. Products such as WPC80 suffered significant price drops because everyone in the dairy industry jumped into this market. Prices for baby food and sports food suffered a major blow. That had an effect on NutriDutch.

The provisional annual report 2021 speaks of another difficult year, after a difficult 2020. Additional financing was attracted in the past year, but that was also to no avail.

An acquiring party has already been sought
As a last lifeline, there was a search for a party that wanted to take over NutriDutch, but at the end of last year the patience of private equity party Mentha Capital apparently ran out. No new money went into NutriDutch anymore. The plug was pulled. WPC prices did rise last year, but perhaps not quickly enough or perhaps the sharply increased energy prices threw a spanner in the works.

There is a chance that, after a bankruptcy and freed from a number of financial burdens that existed before the bankruptcy, there are still parties who see potential in a restart. This will be under changed conditions.

High CEO consumption at NutriDutch
It is difficult to determine how NutriDutch operated in the years before 2020. The company does not publish sales data. At the end it employed 34 employees. Although little can be deduced from the figures, it is striking that the company had a high turnover rate of top managers: on average, a CEO did not complete a full year. Operational director and veteran Erik van den Bor was the constant factor. He survived them all.

It is not clear whether Van den Bor was also a shareholder. He is the only manager who came to NutriDutch from the former Van den Bor Milk and who apparently succeeded in making the transition from a free-spirited calf milk producer to a producer of quality dairy for the higher segment of human nutrition.

First company collapsed due to family quarrels
The original family business collapsed in 2014 due to internal disputes. The company that once had a turnover of more than €60 million and had tens of thousands of veal calves on contract came under the hammer after a planned takeover initially fell through. The two Van den Bor brothers who were in charge at the time each wanted to sell to a different party. When there was a restart led by Mentha Capital, Erik van den Bor returned to the company as manager.