Savencia Starts Exclusive Talks to Sell Bordeau Chesnel

French food group Savencia Fromage & Dairy is negotiating the sale of Luissier Bordeau Chesnel to Financière Alliance, an Amiens-based holding company majority-owned by the agricultural cooperative Cobevial. The parties have entered exclusive talks, but the transaction has not yet been completed.

Bordeau Chesnel was founded in 1922 and joined the Bongrain family group, now Savencia, during the 1970s. The brand is France’s leading commercial rillettes label, with about half of the country’s retail market and annual sales exceeding 20m tubs.

The proposed transfer includes Bordeau Chesnel’s manufacturing assets, intellectual property and 133 employees. The staff currently work within Alliance Océane & Charcutière, Savencia’s subsidiary for deli and charcuterie products. The main facility is in Yvré-l’Évêque, near Le Mans in the Sarthe department.

For Savencia, the transaction is part of a plan to direct financial resources towards its dairy operations. Its priorities include regional speciality cheeses, with brands such as Caprice des Dieux, Saint Agur and Tartare, alongside technical dairy protein ingredients. The group has also faced higher processing and energy costs and continuing volatility in farmgate milk prices.

French industrial charcuterie producers have operated amid lower per-person meat consumption, higher costs throughout the pork supply chain and disputes over prices with large supermarket groups. Regional labour representatives have described the proposed acquisition by Groupe Alliance and Cobevial as a return of the facility to an agricultural cooperative connected to primary producers. They have also linked the transaction to the preservation of traditional charcuterie expertise in Sarthe and to possible outlets for livestock from the surrounding supply chain.

Completion is conditional on statutory consultations with employee representative bodies and approval by French competition authorities. Savencia was formerly known as Soparind Bongrain and remains a multinational processor of dairy products and cheese, while Financière Alliance is based in Amiens.