French paid 80m euros for Expur vegetable oil

Sofiproteol French company, a giant with over 6,000 employees and 5.5bn euro turnover, paid around 80m euros for Expur Urziceni, controlled by Alimenta Swiss group, in one of this year’s biggest deals.

“Sofiproteol finalised the acquisition of Expur, through Saipol subsidiary. Expur is one of the biggest players in Romania in terms of sunflower and rapeseed oil processing. The company has 450 employees and registered 114m-euro turnover in 2009,” announced the French company’s officials.
In the deal, the French company was assisted by the lawyers of Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații, as well as by Cotty Vivant Marchisio & Lauzeral of France.
Expur is the producer of Ulcom vegetable oil brand and also operates on the biodiesel market.
Sofiproteol representatives did not specify the value of the deal. According to ZF estimates, it could range between 60 and 80m euros.
Expur shareholders this summer submitted a file to get 80m-euro financing from the EBRD to expand the business and its market share.
The domestic vegetable oil market is put at 200,000 tonnes, being dominated by Bunge and Cargill US companies.