External partner on the way at the country’s largest tomato grower

Den Berk Délice, the country’s largest tomato grower, starts the search for an external shareholder. This should help support the European expansion plans of the Kempen group. The process is still in its early stages.

When you go shopping in your supermarket, you can choose from different types of tomatoes: small round ones, ones in the shape of a pear or a teardrop, or somewhat larger varieties. Red tomatoes, but also orange, yellow, green or black. There is a good chance that they come from Den Berk Délice, Belgium’s largest tomato grower. All major retailers in the country are customers there.

The foundation for the Kempen group was laid in the 1990s, when four neighboring tomato growers from the Noorderkempen – Luc Beirinckx, Hans van Gool, Paul van de Mierop and Koen Lauwerysen – decided to systematically join forces. In 2014, their companies formally came under one umbrella: Den Berk Délice. That group is in the hands of the four founders, who are also operationally active within the company.

But a shift is coming. Because the current owners have mandated KBC Securities Oaklins to find an external party that supports their European expansion plans. According to our information, the current owners want to remain involved in the company both in terms of capital and operationally after the transaction. The search is still in its early stages.

Oaklins is an international platform of around sixty different mergers and acquisition advisors with whom KBC’s stock exchange house has been working together for many years. At Den Berk Délice they do not want to comment.

Den Berk Délice has grown significantly in recent years by shifting the focus from classic vine and beef tomatoes to specialties, a growing and less volatile market. The demand from retailers for such special products is high. The ‘normal’ tomatoes – large, red and round – only represent a small part of the group turnover.

The Kempen group has a turnover of approximately 150 million euros and a gross operating profit (EBITDA) of approximately 40 million. It is active at ten locations – including a hypermodern sorting center in Hoogstraten – and has a cultivation area of ​​82 hectares. Including seasonal workers, 900 people work there. About 40 percent of turnover comes from Belgian retailers, the rest from exports. The Kempen tomatoes are shipped to Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, among others.

Den Berk Délice also invests energy and money in research and development. Every year it conducts around 200 studies into new tomato varieties that must be tasty enough and have a good shelf life. Only a few of these actually reach the market. “With some of our tomatoes you even doubt whether they are tomatoes,” said co-owner Luc Beirinckx a few years ago in an interview with De Tijd. ‘We will not sell large volumes of this, but consumers are willing to pay extra for a new, exclusive cocktail tomato.’

The four founders are still operationally involved, but the group has been led for three years by Wouter Vankeirsbilck, a non-family manager. He came over from the Arvesta group (formerly Aveve) and set up a central management team.

There are already tomato growers in both Belgium and the Netherlands with a financial party in their capital. For example, years ago BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity became a shareholder in Stoffels, a sector and regional colleague of Den Berk Délice. With a turnover of around 40 million euros and an EBITDA of 4 to 5 million, it is a few sizes smaller than the group from Hoogstraten.

In the Netherlands, investor NPM Capital has been a co-shareholder of Agro Care since 2019, which it claims is the largest tomato producer in Europe. It has a cultivation area of ​​261 hectares spread across the Netherlands, France, Morocco and Tunisia. The ambition of the Dutch is to grow to 1,000 hectares by 2030. Agro Care achieved a consolidated turnover of 181 million euros in 2022.

As a reminder: NPM Capital is part of SHV, the group of the powerful Dutch Fentener van Vlissingen family. The investment company is already a shareholder in the IT consultant Tech Tribes in our country.