Griffin Industries has been bought by Darling International Inc. for $840 million in cash and stock, according to Cincinnati.com.
Griffin Industries is headquartered in Cold Springs, Ky., and has facilities in 18 states, including 55 locations in the Southeast and seven in Tennessee.
Locally, Griffin Industries operates a rendering plant on River Road, just east of Union City.
The Union City plant employs 105 workers on-site, according to general manager Dennis Sigman. The purchase of Griffin Industries by Darling Industries is expected to be completed by the end of this month, according to Cincinnati.com. The website also reported the deal will create the nation’s largest provider of animal rendering, food recycling and recovery services with annual revenues of $1.1 billion, with 3,262 employees and 136 sites across the country.
Griffin Industries reported revenues last year of $524 million, according to Cincinnati.com.
The company reported having 1,400 employees at its plants.
Last year, Darling Industries reported $598 million in revenues with 1,870 employees at 81 locations, according to Cincinnati.com.
“The combination of our two companies fills out our national footprint gives us the ability to better serve our customers from coast to coast,” Darling Industries Chairman and CEO Randall C. Stuewe is quoted as saying in a statement on Cincinnati.com
According to the company’s website, Griffin Industries was founded in 1943 by John and Rosellen Griffin. The agri-business is one of the largest independent privately-owned animal byproducts and bakery-byproduct recycling companies in North America.
Locally, it was Griffin Industries that took over Duncan Tankage in the late 1980s.
The local facility is one of two rendering plants operated by Griffin Industries in the Southeast.

Published in The Messenger 12.10.10