Evolution, Masterrind and Vikinggenetics (owned by Faba, Växa and VikingDanmark) are announcing their intention to create a leading cattle breeding cooperative. This merger will result in the largest cattle breeding company in Europe – Arcowin – with more than 53.000 members. The new cooperative will work on ensuring the most sustainable and highest possible genetic progress of different breeds, for the greatest benefit of the members and worldwide customers within the dairy and beef industry.

On 1^st December 2020, the three companies Evolution, Masterrind and Vikinggenetics, announced the foundation of the new cooperative Arcowin from 1^st of January 2021. Arcowin was established to support dairy and beef breeding programs from Evolution, Masterrind and Vikinggenetics, with the main objective to take advantage of their respective genetic resources and start some R&D collaborations.

In December 2020, the three companies agreed to investigate further synergies of collaboration. Based on the analysis of the synergies, the board of directors of the cooperatives announces their intent to merge activities related to R&D, breeding, production and international sales and international marketing.

The merger is conditioned on receipt of regulatory approvals and is expected to take effect on 1^st January 2022.

‘We have realized that the three companies will gain further synergies and have the same foundation being a cooperative, owned by the farmers and working for the farmers. Being united we will stand together with 53,000 dairy and beef farmers relying on us to secure them the best genetic progress for the success of their farms’, says Vincent Rétif, Chairperson of the board of Arcowin.

Evolution, Masterrind and Vikinggenetics are leading cooperatives within cattle breeding with strong bases in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, and Sweden. All three cooperatives have been pioneers in driving progress, sustainability and profitability of the dairy and beef industry, not only in their home markets, but also around the world. The member driven companies, Evolution, Faba, Masterrind, Växa and Vikingdanmark will continue servicing the members within the five home market countries.

‘As Arcowin gives full exchange of genetic information across all breeds and countries, we are able to identify the best animals in Europe, by taking advantage of the huge variation in our breeds, and thereby maximizing the genetic gain in all the breeding programs. This opens a great potential for the farmers, to get access to superior genetics and benefit of a trend-setting development in Europe’, says Dr Josef Pott, CEO Arcowin.

After the merge, Arcowin will strengthen the global distribution setup with affiliates in 10 countries, distributors in 65 countries and with the strongest European base.

‘By combining our global marketing and sales activities, we will extend our global footprint thanks to a broader and more segmented offer, but also being able to focus more on individual markets to the benefits of dairy and beef producers globally´, says Dr Josef Pott, CEO Arcowin.