Total Produce goes Dutch with 50% stake

FRUIT and vegetable distributor Total Produce has made further inroads into the Dutch market byacquiring a 50% stake in local company ASF Holland for an undisclosed sum.

A soft fruit distributor based in the south-eastern city of Venlo, on the Dutch-German border, ASF Holland is on course for sales of e25 million this year. Although reticent over how much it has paid for the stake, market analysts are suggesting it cost the former Fyffes subsidiary around e1m, with a minimal impact on earnings for Total Produce’s current financial year expected.

ASF will be bolted onto Total Produce’s subsidiary, Redbridge Holdings (the Peterborough-based soft fruit company it bought two years ago) which has a presence in the same part of the world.