Tereos and La Societe des Sucreries du Marquenterre announce alliance

Restructuring of the Common Agricultural Organisation for sugar took place in 2006, aimed at removing surplus sugar from the marketplace to make the industry more competitive. It has prompted considerable activity in the sector as companies align to strengthen their positions, or seek to bolster other areas of their business so as to remain competitive despite reduced sugar interests. Under the agreement Tereos will take control of the sugar plant at Marconelle, northern France, which has a capacity of 5,500 tonnes of sugar beet per day, and produces 45,000 tonnes of sugar and 120,000 hectolitres of alcohol per year. Tereos will also take over the society's transport arm, GCTP, which operates out of Hesdin, Pas-de-Calais. For its part, La Societe des Sucreries du Marquenterre is to gain a 50 per cent share in Tereos' Romanian joint venture, which operates a sugar factory in Ludud, Romania. As is usual in France for business decisions involving more than 50 employees, the agreement is subject to the opinion of employee committees. Further financial details of the arrangement have not been released at this time, nor has Tereos said precisely how it will help strengthen its position in the face of sugar reform. Tereos claims to be the number one sugar producer in France, and the number two in Europe. Its annual sales amount to €2.3bn. Across its 27 industrial facilities the company currently produces 2.9m tonnes of sugar and one million cubic metres of alcohol-ethanol. Tereos subsidiary Syral is currently in advanced stage talks over the acquisition of part of Tate & Lyle's Food and Industrial Ingredients, Europe division (TALFIIE), which is made up almost entirely of commodity sweeteners and starches. The transaction is expected to have a value of between €293m to €323m.