Acquisition between Valio and Heinon Tukku is approved
On 30.6.2021 the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) approved the transaction in which Valio Oy is acquiring Heinon Tukku Oy. With the transaction, Valio becomes an even more comprehensive partner for food industry professionals.
“We are really pleased with the FCCA’s decision. Going forward, we will be a more comprehensive partner to those food industry professionals for whom quality, a deep understanding of customer needs, and delivery reliability are key factors. Heinon Tukku is a traditional family-owned company, and Valio is owned by Finnish dairy farmers. We share a similar set of values,” says Valio’s Tuomas Sorri, who will head the new business unit created through the transaction.
The FCCA investigated the competition impacts of the Valio and Heinon Tukku transaction. The transaction involves the merger of a manufacturer and a wholesaler. Based on the FCCA’s investigation, the merger will not lead to the market exclusion of Valio’s or Heinon Tukku’s competitors. A condition of the merger approval is that Valio must commit to protecting the sensitive information of competitors it receives as a result of the transaction so that it isn’t transmitted in the organisation in a manner that is detrimental to competition
“It is common that the implementation of a business merger is subject to certain conditions. We will act in the manner required by the FCCA’s decision,” notes Sorri.
Petri Heino, CEO of Tukkuheino Oy, shares his sentiments:
“I especially want to thank all Heinon Tukku employees and partners for the good collaboration, which in many cases has spanned multiple decades. Heinon Tukku has terrific employees, and through our shared years we have had so many great encounters with customers and other stakeholders. It is with bittersweetness but complete confidence that we now hand Heinon Tukku’s reins over to Valio.”
“Our family-owned company has three centuries of experience in the food industry, and we will remain in the food and beverage business. Our 120-year story will now live on in a new format. Heinon Tukku has been our group’s biggest, most prominent, and most well-known company, but we are retaining our ownership of Kalavapriikki, Uniq Drinks Finland, and Anton & Anton. Going forward, we want to put more focus on the development of these companies,” adds Heino.
Growth in eating out is a factor
The backdrop of the transaction is the eating out and takeaway trend, which is expected to return to growth after the coronavirus pandemic eases.
In the future, Valio will be a single-source supplier of everything a professional kitchen needs: in addition to an extensive selection of raw materials, support in product development and in creating meal and snack concepts.
Heinon Tukku has a portfolio of thousands of products – from fresh vegetables to napkins – and its customers are restaurants and coffee shops particularly in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Valio has the country’s most extensive distribution network and particularly public sector customers.
Read more: Valio to acquire Heinon Tukku Oy ─ eating away from home is a long-term megatrend, Valio press release 27.4.2021
Stock photos:
Images for media use
Interviews and call requests:
Valio Oy: Interview and call requests through Valio Mediadesk, +358 10 381 2118 or mediadesk@valio.fi
Tukkuheino Oy: CEO Petri Heino, tel. +358 500 451 625, petri.heino@heino.fi
Valio, offering the taste of Nordic nature since 1905, is the biggest food business in Finland and a major player in the international dairy ingredients market. The company is owned by dairy cooperatives comprising some 4,300 family farms. Valio has 15 own production plants and its own distribution logistics. Wellbeing is at the heart of Valio’s technology innovations, expertise and products made from clean Finnish milk and other ingredients. Valio’s product development follows in the footsteps of Nobel Prize winner A. I. Virtanen. Valio products are found in 60 countries. In 2020 its sales totaled 1.8 billion euros. Valio’s goal is to make its milk carbon-neutral by 2035.
Tukkuheino Oy is a family-owned company established in 1899 and the parent company of Heino Group. Through its subsidiaries, it conducts wholesale and retail sales and imports of daily consumer goods and alcoholic beverages. The Group includes Tukkuheino Oy, Kalavapriikki Oy, Uniq Drinks Finland Oy ja Oy Anton & Anton Ab.
