Devenish, the Northern Ireland-based animal nutrition company, announced that it has sold its North America division Devenish LLC to South Korean agricultural and biotechnical company Easy Bio Corporation.

The sale includes five manufacturing facilities in the USA and Mexico and a further six research facilities, which the business co-operates with a number of key customers in both the USA and Mexico.

According to a release from Easy Bio, the division employs more than 200 people, with more than 30 of them being PhD-level personnel, pointing to the strong research capability the US operation has in house.

Neither the buyer nor the seller gave an indication as to the size of the deal.

Reduce debt level

Devenish said that it would use the proceeds to reduce its debt level and to invest in its core activities in Ireland and the UK.

Devenish Nutrition Group chief executive Tony McEntee said that “following the disposal, the group will have a sharper business focus and will capitalise on the sustainable growth potential presented by our operations and activities in our core markets of Ireland, the UK along with our significant other international markets”.

Last year, Devenish agreed the sale of its house and farm at Dowth, Co Meath, to the Irish State and the company also raised money from shareholders.