France's largest poultry processor LDC has joined hands with Saudi food group Al Munajem to take over production sites of ailing chicken processor Groupe Doux based in Brittany, France, said a report.

 

The LDC consortium also included French agri-food co-op - and Doux majority shareholder - Terrena, reported Just-Food.com.

 

The move comes following a ruling by a French commercial court which preferred the LDC consortium to a competing a bid from Ukraine-based poultry processor MHP.

 

The move is aimed at safeguarding most of the nearly 1,200 jobs at the insolvent firm, stated the report.

 

The court said the consortium will take on 811 of Doux's staff directly and offered to find employment solutions for all of the remaining members of workforce, which totals more than 1,100 workers.

 

The consortium is paying close to €20 million for Doux's assets excluding the definitive valuation of its stock, the court said.

 

In a joint statement, the French government and the Brittany regional authority hailed "an exemplary" bid that "ticked all the boxes" of maintaining a maximum number of jobs, putting Doux on a stable and sustainable footing and strengthening the poultry sector in France.

 

The project also includes the creation of a new company, Yer Breizh, to bring together the upstream players in Brittany's poultry sector. Brittany's regional authority will be a shareholder in the new entity, said the report.

 

The court noted the quality of MHP's offer but said it was regrettable it had made provision for a two-year gap between the closure of a Doux plant and the construction of a new one.