Barry Callebaut AG, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, today announced the completion of the sale of its European consumer business Stollwerck to the Belgian Baronie Group, as announced on July 11, 2011. The sale included all of the business and all assets of Stollwerck and its affiliates, including five factories in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. The two parties agreed not to disclose any financial details of the transaction.

As already reported, Stollwerck, based in Germany, has sales revenue of approximately EUR 500 million and volumes sold are more than 100,000 tonnes. Stollwerck’s volumes consist of private label business, branded chocolate products (Sarotti, Alprose, Alpia and Jacques) and co-manufacturing for third parties.

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Barry Callebaut: 
With annual sales of about CHF 5.2 billion (EUR 3.6 billion/USD 4.9 billion) for fiscal year 2009/10, Zurich-based Barry Callebaut is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate – from the cocoa bean to the finished chocolate product. Barry Callebaut is present in 27 countries, operates around 40 production facilities and employs a diverse and dedicated workforce of about 6,000 people. Barry Callebaut serves the entire food industry focusing on industrial food manufacturers, artisans and professional users of chocolate (such as chocolatiers, pastry chefs or bakers), the latter with its two global brands Callebaut® and Cacao Barry®. Barry Callebaut is the global leader in cocoa and chocolate innovations and provides a comprehensive range of services in the fields of product development, processing, training and marketing. Cost leadership is another important reason why global as well as local food manufacturers work together with Barry Callebaut. Through its broad range of sustainability initiatives and research activities, the company works with farmers, farmer organizations and other partners to help ensure future supplies of cocoa and improve farmer livelihoods.