IN Brief:
- Heidemark employs 2,300 people across five sites, with turnover around €760m.
- The business will sit inside Storteboom as an independent German unit.
- The transaction expands Boparan’s continental footprint ahead of further capacity investment.
The Boparan Private Office (BPO) has agreed to acquire Heidemark, a German turkey and chicken processor based in Ahlhorn, Lower Saxony, in a move that expands the group’s poultry processing presence across continental Europe.
Heidemark will join the Storteboom Food Group, the European poultry division owned by BPO. The transaction is subject to merger control clearance by the European Commission, with the parties stating that both businesses will continue to operate independently until the review process is complete.
Heidemark is a third-generation family business that has broadened from turkey into wider poultry over the past two years through acquisitions and other strategic moves. The company employs around 2,300 people across five locations and reports turnover of approximately €760m. Under the proposed structure, Heidemark is expected to be integrated as an independent German business unit, with its existing leadership team retained and the Heidemark name remaining in use.
For Storteboom, the acquisition extends a footprint that already spans poultry slaughter, cutting, processing, and value-added operations in the Netherlands, Poland, and Ireland. Storteboom has been positioned as BPO’s European platform since a transaction completed in October 2024, when BPO acquired the European poultry business formerly operated under the 2 Sisters Storteboom name for a fee stated to be in excess of €200m.
The combined scale of the two businesses would materially increase capacity across the group’s European network. Storteboom has been described as employing around 3,500 people across nine production sites, processing roughly 4.3 million chickens per week, with annual revenue reported at about €1.2bn. Adding Heidemark’s turkey-led portfolio brings a larger product mix, as well as a German processing base that has not previously been part of the Storteboom operating footprint.
BPO said the acquisition aligns with its “Next Gen” strategy, which it has framed around automation, productivity, and sustainability investment. Heidemark’s owners also highlighted continuity as a key condition of the sale, including the retention of employees and management, alongside the continued operation of existing sites.
With the transaction awaiting clearance, attention shifts to how quickly Heidemark’s processing network can be aligned with Storteboom’s existing operations, and whether planned investment focuses on automation upgrades, capacity optimisation, or product development across the enlarged platform.
