French poultry group, LDC, has started exclusive merger talks with Arrivé Group.

LDC, with brands such as Loué and Le Gaulois well-represented in French supermarkets, is one of the largest poultry groups in France, competing with the European leader in certified fresh poultry, Duc.

LDC has a turn over of nearly €2 billion and has 12,000 farming partners.

Arrivé Group counts Maître Coq among its brands, which is a leading brand of ready-to-cook chickens in microwave bags.

Arrivé has sales of €561 million ($730.6 million), of which 75 per cent comes from poultry and 25 per cent from animal feed, and employs 2,835 people. LDC has sales of some €2 billion, employs 12,000 and is one of Europe's leading poultry groups.

LDC said the merger would be of great strategic interest to the two firms. In January, LDC Group bought sandwich specialist, Entracte.

LDC has a market capitalisation of €522 million and gained 12 per cent this year.