A year full of surprises

New solutionThe Belgian company Laroy Duvo (Witte Molen, Europet Bernina International) and Erwin Van Tendeloo, son of the Flamingo founder René Van Tendeloo, wanted to generate a relaunch of Flamingo. Treats in the US marketLooking to grow in the USA and Great Britain, Indian company Dogsee Chew came to an agreement under which the company's Himalayan Yak chews would be sold in both countries by online retailer Amazon.
800 new storesFressnapf Germany revealed its aim to open over 800 new stores by 2021, most of  them in Germany, France, Poland and Italy.
Growth in ItalyBig pet stores constituted the distribution channel with the highest growth rates in pet food sales in Italy.
Capacity expansionSera built a new hall for order picking and product quality control. 7 800 additional pallet spaces were to be created on an overall area of 3 500 m², along with an ultra-modern dispatch centre and further office and laboratory rooms.Moderna facility opensThe Belgian accessory supplier Moderna Products opened a production facility in the USA, a fully operational injection moulding facility on a 15-acre campus in Gaffney in South Carolina.Toy market growingToys for dogs and cats are a growth market in the USA. This was confirmed by the market research company Packaged Facts in a new market report published under the title "Durable Dog and Cat Petcare Products in the US".A new retail groupA new pet store operator, Petfriends AG, was launched with the aim of becoming established as a new third force in the Swiss pet product trade. New coup Agravis Raiffeisen AG took over 16 Raiffeisen stores and the wholesale business in the area covering stores of RWZ Rhine-Main.Yarrah changes handsVendis Capital sold Dutch organic pet food manufacturer Yarrah Organic Petfood to AAC Capital. Based in Amsterdam, AAC Capital is an investment company specialising in buyouts of medium-sized firms.
Well Pet and WhimzeesThe American family-owned natural pet food company Well Pet announced the acquisition of Whimzees, a Netherlands-based maker of natural dental chews for dogs, manufactured by Paragon Pet Products in Veendam. New pet food factoryNestlé opened a pet food factory in Ribeirão Preto (Brazil) for making wet food for cats and dogs.Petco and PetCoachPetco acquired the digital pet services company PetCoach - a pet advice website and app that helps pet owners take better care of their pets.Merger in FranceThe French garden centre chain Botanic acquired the Rapid Croq pet supplies…