France-Talks of poultry merger.

FRANCE-TALKS OF MEAT TAKEOVER.

LDC has announced its interest in buying Maitre Coq following exclusive talks the latter’s parent company, Arrive.

French poultry group, LDC, has started exclusive merger talks with Arrive group.

LDC, with brands such as Loue and Le Gaulois well-represented in French supermarkets, is one of the largest poultry groups in France, competing with the European leader in certified fresh poultry, Duc.

LDC has a turn over of nearly €2 billion and has 12,000 farming partners.

Arrive counts Maitre Coq among its brands, which is a leading brand of ready-to-cook chickens in microwave bags.

Arrive has sales of €561 million ($730.6 million), of which 75 per cent comes from poultry and 25 per cent from animal feed, and employs 2,835 people. LDC has sales of some €2 billion, employs 12,000 and is one of Europe’s leading poultry groups.

LDC said the merger would be of great strategic interest to the two firms. In January, LDC bought sandwich specialist, Entracte.

LDC has a market capitalisation of €522 million and gained 12 per cent this year.