UPDATE 2-Man, Nordzucker, Cristal Union exit joint venture

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Commodities merchant ED&F Man said on Thursday its Paris-based Eurosugar joint venture with France's Cristal Union and Germany's Nordzucker will be terminated at the end of this year. "From the New Year, ED&F Man will concentrate on re-establishing its independent presence in the EU market," Man said in a statement. The companies have shared commercial EU sugar activities since market reforms in 2006. Man said the 2006 EU reforms had created new opportunities but amendments in 2008 "substantially changed the course and in particular the nature of the market reform". "These changes ultimately undermined the business model of Eurosugar and limited the scope and potential of a venture of this nature," Man said. Substantial changes in strategy were key to the decision by Nordzucker, Germany's second-largest sugar producer, to withdraw from Eurosugar, Nordzucker said in a statement. In March this year, Nordzucker acquired Nordic Sugar, the sugar activities of Danish group Danisco, which expanded the German company's activities in Scandinavia and the Baltic states. "As a result, Nordic Sugar is effectively a direct competitor of Eurosugar," Nordzucker CEO Hans-Gerd Birlenberg said in a statement. "We are fully committed to exploiting the potential of the even bigger Nordzucker Group, especially with regard to our owners and beet growers. Given that, the situation made no sense in the long run for either Eurosugar or Nordzucker as Nordic Sugar's parent," Birlenberg said. (Reporting by Nigel Hunt in London and Michael Hogan in Hamburg; Editing by William Hardy) Keywords: SUGAR MAN/ ([e-mail] ; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail] ) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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