US agri-food major Cargill has snapped up two meat processing facilities from the retail giant Ahold Delhaize.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Cargill said it wanted to “expand its production and distribution of supermarket case-ready beef and pork to retailers in the northeast part of the country”. The plants are based in North Kingstown, Rhode Island and Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
Infinity Meat Solutions, a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize USA, already has Cargill staff working at both facilities due to an ongoing partnership between the retailer and the meat processor.
Cargill will continue to supply own-label to Ahold Delhaize in the north-east of the US, while “expanding its case-ready production and distribution capabilities from the two plants to additional retailers”, the statement read.
“With this investment, we look forward to our continued partnership with Ahold Delhaize USA companies while bringing additional high-quality case-ready products to new retail customers,” Hans Kabat, the president of Cargill’s North American protein business, added.
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By GlobalData“By bringing more of our case-ready and value-added protein products to retailers, their employees can spend less time on back-room prep work and more time helping their customers at the meat counter.”
Cargill’s partnership with Ahold Delhaize’s US companies has included producing packaged ground beef and pork, muscle cuts and “value-added products such as seasoned, marinated and breaded meats” for the Dutch retailer’s US grocery store chains, such as Food Lion, Giant Food and Stop & Shop.
“As our brands focus on being the leading omnichannel grocery retailers in our markets, we have made the decision to sell these facilities so that we can continue to be intentional about our investments in the US as we drive growth,” said JJ Fleeman, CEO of Ahold Delhaize USA.
“By aligning these facilities with a company that specialises in meat production, we can continue to provide quality products to our brands’ customers and increase our focus on being leading omnichannel retailers.”
The agri-food group said the deal was pursued as “US consumer demand for convenient and affordable protein options continues to grow”.
Cargill recorded $177bn in revenues in its fiscal 2023, up 7% on the previous year, and the highest ever for the 158-year-old company.