Joint venture in pet food

Bosch Tiernahrung and Saturn Petfood, which is part of the Heristo Group, are two family firms that have enjoyed a close business relationship for many years. Now the two have formed a joint venture to acquire the Rodi Petfood plant, which is regarded as modern and highly profitable. Saturn Petfood’s involvement is still subject to approval under anti-monopoly legislation. 56 of the 67 staff previously employed by Rodi have been kept on in the takeover of the plant, which has an annual capacity of 60 000 tonnes. The shedding of some jobs is due to the fact that the management of the company is being transferred with immediate effect to Bosch Tiernahrung’s headquarters in Blaufelden. Second plant for Bosch Bosch Tiernahrung now has a second production plant in addition to its dry food plant in Blau-felden, Baden-Württemberg. To improve the running of the plants, the supply chain management is being moved to the main office in Blaufelden-Wiesenbach along with functions such as R & D and accounting. This means that the existing contacts in the head office will now act as contacts for the production plant in Nettetal too. Order management will be handled centrally in Blaufelden-Wie-senbach, and billing will also be done out from here. The former managing director of Rodi Petfood Nettetal GmbH , Frank Hermanns, will continue to be responsible for the plant locally in his capacity as plant manager. Apart from Hermanns, the management team of the joint venture includes Bosch managing director Wolfgang Heim and Thomas Wandel, managing director of Saturn.Background The factory in Nettetal, which boasts a current annual production capacity of 60 000 tonnes, has changed hands several times in the past. It was established by Milkivit in 1962. In 1993 the plant was acquired by Spillers, which then merged two years later with Quaker Latz, a company steeped in tradition. In 1998 it became part of Friskies Tiernahrung (since 2001: Nestlé Purina Petcare), a company in the Nestlé Group. Rodi Petfood became the next owner in 2003. In February 2009, the Dibaq Group from Spain acquired 80 per cent of the shares in Rodi Petfood Nettetal, but the latter filed for insolvency in October due to reported liquidity problems experienced by the new owner. The plant was taken over by the newly established company Bosch Saturn Tiernahrung in January. Download: Joint venture in pet food (PDF file)