News Cattle feed
ForFarmers and Vleuten Voeders sign a new deal
ForFarmers and Vleuten Voeders will continue working together from 2023 on the basis of new agreements. This means that the curtain falls for the much-discussed subsidiary Vleuten-Steijn Voeders, which ForFarmers has owned 2016% since 100. The Van der Vleuten family will become part owner of the joint venture in the new construction. The Van der Steijn family, against whom ForFarmers started a criminal case in 2021, is no longer a party.
To understand the deal properly, we have to go back a few years. In 2016, ForFarmers acquired Vleuten-Steijn Voeders, a company that is mainly active in the sale of sow feed, for an amount of €30 million. The deal had a striking construction, because after the takeover the company remained an independent unit - with the name Vleuten-Steijn Voeders - within ForFarmers. Paul Van der Steijn and Bart Van der Vleuten also remained on as directors, as did the entire team.
The takeover seemed like cake and egg to the outside world, until in September 2021 the news came out that ForFarmers accused the Van der Steijn family of violating takeover agreements. Father and son Van der Steijn allegedly started a new feed company behind ForFarmers' backs and approached ForFarmers customers for this. ForFarmers started criminal proceedings in 2021, after which the burden of proof was seized by the police.
The collaboration between ForFarmers and the Van der Steijn family then ended. Both parties have made an arrangement, Paul Van der Steijn confirms when asked. He doesn't want to say much about it. He does indicate that ForFarmers will continue to produce feed for its 'new' company WorldPremix, which suggests that the cold between the two parties is over again.
Joint venture
It now appears that ForFarmers and Vleuten Voeders have continued together from January on the basis of new agreements. Inquiries at ForFarmers show that this information is correct, but they do not want to say anything else about it. Coen Van der Vleuten, son of Bart and now the next generation at the helm, would like to respond to the deal if asked. He indicates that ForFarmers and Vleuten Voeders will continue in a joint venture from 2023. He does not comment on the importance of his family in Vleuten Voeders. "Let me put it this way: we are satisfied with it. The idea of the joint venture is that we are stronger together."
Before the takeover in 2016, the Van der Vleuten family owned 70% and the Van der Steijn family 30% of the shares in the then merged company Vleuten-Steijn. This means that the vast majority of the estimated 300.000 tonnes of compound feed remains within Vleuten Voeders.
Wouter Job
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