Nutreco’s Japanese joint venture Yamaha Nutreco Aquatech (YNA) has acquired all shares in Kirin Feed, a subsidiary of Kirin Beer Co. in Japan. Kirin Feed markets fish feed for yellowtail, sea bream, eel and other farmed fish with a total volume in 2004 of 20,000 tonnes and sales of EUR 20 million. With this transaction YNA will strengthen its competitive position on the Japanese fish feed market.

YNA’s newly appointed general manager Rik van Westendorp: “We are currently seeing consolidation in the fish feed business in Japan. This is perfect timing for bundling our strengths. The combination of Kirin Feed and YNA fish feed operations will give the company the required scale to further optimise our customer service and operational efficiency.”

YNA was established in 1998 by Nutreco and Yamaha Motor Company, each holding 50%, and is based in the city of Fukuoka on Kyushu Island. More than 80% of YNA’s fish feed specialities is produced locally by third party toll millers.

The expansion of the fish feed activities in Japan fits within the framework of Nutreco’s strategy ‘Rebalancing for Growth’ which was announced in November last year. The focus Nutreco’s activities and invested capital is shifting towards its worldwide animal nutrition fish feed businesses, which achieved sales of approximately EUR 2 billion in 2004.

Nutreco Holding N.V.

Nutreco Holding N.V. is an international company in the animal nutrition and fish feed markets, where it seeks to create added value through its knowledge of the food chains. The company has a selective presence in various stages of the fish and meat production chains. It has eight Business Groups, each comprising several Business Units, with over 120 production and processing plants in 22 countries and approximately 12,400 employees.

Nutreco's net sales in 2004 were EUR 3,857.6 million. It is quoted on the Official Segment of the Euronext stock exchange (Amsterdam) and is included in the Amsterdam Midkap Index and the Euronext 150 Index.