Ajinomoto has accepted a bid from Dutch sweetener company Hyet Sweet to acquire its plant in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkerque on France’s north coast.
The site at Gravelines, which employs 98 people, has been the European base of Ajinomoto’s sweetener production since 1991.
Its acquisition, according to the site’s delegate from the trade union French Democratic Confederation of Labour, was no surprise. Earlier this month, Ajinomoto employees gathered outside the company’s headquarters in Paris to call for a financial guarantee of €10m should the Gravelines facility be taken out of operation within two years of Hyet Sweet’s acquisition, amid speculation that the Dutch and Japanese companies were close to announcing the terms of a deal.
Eddie Dupuy, of the General Confederation of Labour union, added: “Ajinomoto has accepted the offer of Hyet Sweet, but four points remain to be negotiated between the two parties. These include negotiations on a very large financial compensation requested by Hyet Sweet from Ajinomoto to cover potential losses in the next three years, and on the price of raw materials that Ajinomoto will sell to Hyet.”
Although no financial details have been disclosed, negotiations between the two parties are expected to conclude at the end of July.
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