Best, 21st April 2006 

SOVION'S SUBSIDIARY ROUSSELOT ACQUIRES A THIRD PLANT IN CHINA AND REINFORCES ITS LEADING POSITION ON THE ASIAN GELATIN MARKET.

Shortly after the 10th anniversary of its Kaiping-based plant, Rousselot has acquired a majority share in Da'an Gelatin Company, a limed bone producer located in the province of Jilin. The Rousselot (Da'an) Gelatin Company has been established in the course of April.

With a capacity of 2,000 tons, this new plant reinforces the leading position of Rousselot in Asia Pacific. In addition to its Kaiping and Wenzhou-based plants, the company now benefits from a total output of 11,000 tons of gelatine in China. This represents a market share of more than 30%.

Bringing the highest and safest quality gelatins to Chinese consumers, Rousselot aims at becoming the leader of gelatin in Asia Pacific in the next 5 years. The company has opened a Regional Head Office in Shanghai.

Rousselot is a worldwide leading manufacturer of gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen to the food, pharmaceutical and photographic industries. With a staff of 1,600 people, the company now benefits from a global sales and production network of 9 plants and 10 sales offices located in Europe, North America, South America and Asia.

Rousselot is number 1 for pharmaceutical gelatin (capsules) and firmly established on second place in the food industry.

Rousselot (Gelatin Products), Banner (Healthcare products), Rendac and Sonac (Natural Organic Products) are part of the parent company Sobel N.V. Each of these companies has a position among the market leaders in its segment. Sobel employs a total worldwide workforce of 4,700. Sobel is part of Sovion N.V., a fast growing and ambitious organisation which also includes Vion B.V. Vion concentrates on the development, production and marketing of high quality food products that originate from agriculture sector, with a central position for meat.

With an annual turnover of € 6,5 billion, the privately owned Sovion is amongst the largest industrial companies in the Netherlands. The company employs 14,000 employees and has operations worldwide. The head office is located in Best (the Netherlands).

For further information please contact Mr Cees Bom, Director Internal & General Affairs, tel. + 31 499 364 650