The commercial court of Vienne in southeastern France has approved the takeover of fruit cooperative Chanabel, which filed for bankruptcy last year, to supplier Metral Fruits, according to Végétable.
The deal is set to double Metral Fruits' volumes of stonefruit (to 10,000 tonnes) and apples (to 12,000 tonnes), giving the group a total volume of 40,000 tonnes of fruit.
The acquisition of 90ha of stonefruit orchards in the Costières de Nîmes wine region has boosted the group's internal production to 10 per cent of its volumes.
According to Metral Fruits' Christophe Soulhiard, the takeover will enable the two entities to combine their skills on production monitoring, quality benchmarking and packing know-how.
Retaining the packhouse, the packing equipment and the staff will, he said, ensure the continuity of partnerships with Chanabel's clients.
