#Press Releases

22 January 2024

GLADE MICHEL WIRTZ advises Vion Food Group (Vion), a leading international producer of meat, meat products, and plant-based alternatives, in connection with its strategic adaptation in the German market.

As part of a comprehensive package of measures developed by Vion for its activities in Germany, the Dutch-German meat group has sold its cattle slaughterhouse and the plant for the production of end consumer products in Altenburg, Thuringia, as well as the ham specialist Ahlener Fleischhandel to the Tönnies Group. In addition, the pig processing plant in Perleberg, Brandenburg, was sold to the medium-sized company Schlachterei Uhlen GmbH from Lengerich. The projects are each subject to antitrust approvals, among other. Following the transactions, a total of around 700 employees will be transferred to the respective buyer. In addition, Vion will close its largest German pig slaughterhouse in Emstek. Glade Michel Wirtz negotiated and provided legal advice on the transactions to Vion.

With these changes, Vion is responding to the current tense situation in the German meat industry. Due to the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), the sector is losing important export opportunities and is facing increased competition on the global market. In response to this development, the industry is focusing more on the domestic market and striving for self-sufficiency.

Vion is an international meat and food industry group based in Boxtel in the south of the Netherlands and is currently one of the largest meat companies in the world with 29 production sites in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium and sales organizations in sixteen countries.

GLADE MICHEL WIRTZ (Düsseldorf):

Dr Achim Glade (Partner), Dr Jan Hermes (Partner), Dr Annika Dippel (Associate) – all Corporate

Dr Markus Wirtz (Partner), Dr Silke Möller (Partner), Dr Laura Gellisch (Associate) – all Competition

GLADE MICHEL WIRTZ currently has around 25 lawyers and a total of around 50 legal and non-legal staff specializing in corporate and competition law. In these fields, the firm has made a name for itself for litigation and compliance in addition to its traditional advisory services. As a focused boutique law firm, GLADE MICHEL WIRTZ advises companies listed on the DAX, MDAX or TecDAX, medium-sized companies as well as foreign, globally active groups and investors both nationally and internationally on corporate and partnership law, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and reorganization, antitrust fines and merger control proceedings as well as on compliance issues. In the area of litigation, the focus is on the resolution of corporate, capital markets and antitrust disputes.

You can download the press release here: GLADE MICHEL WIRTZ advises Vion Food Group on the sale of three locations