Two comparable companies
The companies are both family businesses with a
comparable culture: Bolletje was founded by the family Ter Beek, Borggreve by
the family of the same name. The Germans specialise in rusk and biscuits, the
Dutch in rusk, bisque, biscuits, knäckebröd, gingerbread, pita bread and
seasonal products. The factories of Bolletje in Almelo and of Borggreve in
Neuenhaus are only half an hour apart.
The past years Bolletje had reached its limit:
the company was a little bit stuck in home country the Netherlands, where it
has about 500 employees and sales of about 75 million euro. The new combination Borggreve-Bolletje
has 800 employees and joint sales of 200 million euro.
Independent future for Bolletje
Buyer Borggreve has the intention to give
Bolletje an independent future with a clear A-brand strategy. “For the staff
only the last name of shareholders changes”, says the company. Borggreve could
give Bolletje access to the German market. At the same time it can put products
on the shelves in the Netherlands, labelled Bolletje.
The takeover of Bolletje would not disturb the Dutch market and therefore needs no approval of the Dutch Competition Authority. That was different in December 2012, when Continental
Bakeries tried to buy Bolletje. The resulting company would have had a share of the Dutch
market that was too large.
