Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak advisor for Cargill in acquisition of companies operating within the KONSPOL Group

Cargill has been a world leader in food production for over 153 years now, offering its products to customers in over 125 countries. 150 000 Cargill employees carry out the company’s goal, which is that of delivering food in a safe, responsible and balanced way. The KONSPOL Group is a family company with a 40-year history, and belongs to the Pazgan family. The firm’s production plants are located in Nowy Sącz and in Słupca.

Towards the end of December 2018, as a result of an earlier concluded conditional agreement (with which Cargill was assisted by SK&S), once the conditions set out in it had been met and the unconditional consents of the relevant antimonopoly authorities had been obtained, a final agreement was signed under which Cargill acquired the KONSPOL Group. The subject of the transaction were all the companies of the KONSPOL Group together with the production facilities and product portfolio, i.e. acquisition of the feed production plant, five breeding facilities, a slaughterhouse, as well as two production plants employing approx. 1700 people.

SK&S advised Cargill on all aspects of the transaction: negotiations with owners, preparation of the transaction documentation, the due diligence process and regulatory issues, including preparation of the notification to the Competition Authority.

For this transaction, Cargill was advised by a team of SK&S attorneys headed by Łukasz Berak, a Partner in the M&A department, in cooperation with Krzysztof Pawlisz, Senior Partner. The team comprised: Andrzej Motyka (Senior Counsel),  Michał Dawidowicz (Associate) and Jan Pierzgalski (Associate), assisted by specialists from other departments: Borys Sawicki (Senior Counsel), Dominika Konarska (Senior Associate) and Tomasz Duchniak (Senior Associate).

Antimonopoly issues were handled by Krzysztof Kanton, the Partner in charge of the competition law practice, Dr Jarosław Łukawski (Senior Counsel), and Szymon Murek (Associate).