What’s Cooking prepares for stock market exit

The families behind What’s Cooking want to be the chefs in their own kitchen again: they are paying €88 million to take the Belgian producer of ready-made meals, such as Come a Casa lasagnas, off the stock market.

New course

With an offer of €148 per share, the owner families Coopman and Van der Pluym are targeting the 31.95% of shares they do not yet own. The largest non-reference shareholders are already backing the bid. These include Wallonie Entreprendre, Alychlo owned by investor Marc Coucke, and former CEO Dirk Goeminne and his wife. “Together, they represent approximately 7% of the shares,” De Tijd quotes CEO Piet Sanders as saying.

The stock market exit follows several turbulent years. What’s Cooking, which was known as Ter Beke until 2022, attempted to increase its scale in charcuterie in 2021 through the acquisition of Imperial Meat Products but the Belgian competition authority blocked the transaction. The group then changed course: in 2023, the company sold its cold meat activities to the German investment fund Aurelius for €100 million.

Since then, the company has focused entirely on ready-made meals. It did so by expanding into plant-based products and acquiring French sector peer Sveltic, among other things. CEO Sanders also sees potential for future growth outside Europe. The East Flemish company has been listed on the stock exchange since 1986, but hopes to gain more flexibility in private hands.