Groep Peters, including - among others - the companies Peters Belgian Outdoor Plants and Heyeveld in Munsterbilzen, has bought up the infrastructure of Gardina/Selifin in As, a tree nursery/plant merchant that recently ceased trading. The infrastructure and the grounds were brought into use immediately and cultivation on the site in As will be gradually increased. Peters sees the site eventually employing a workforce of twenty. At the moment Peters is looking for someone with extensive commercial experience and a thorough knowledge of the plants sector.

Leon Peters, managing director of Peters Belgian Outdoor Plants, explains the future plans for the establishment in As: “We intend to expand our own production in tree cultivation there and further specialize in outdoor pot plants. So we expect our production of outdoor pot plants to double over the medium term. In that segment we intend to develop a number of specialisms by which we set our sights on the big market players. The site in As, therefore, is not more of the same as in Munsterbilzen, but more of something else.

But As will not differ from Munsterbilzen in two respects: here we target exclusively the professional in the plants and gardening sector and, in the future, we will also see the creation of a centre where different suppliers can work together.
I am thinking, for example, of different plant-growers each with their own specialities. A concentration like this is interesting for the client, and the growers have the advantage of synergy effects.”

The Peters vision and business plan for the new site immediately won the confidence of the company’s banking partner, the ING business office in Hasselt.

Peters Belgian Outdoor Plants (Munsterbilzen) is a wholesaler for garden and terrace plants directed exclusively towards professionals in the sector. The company is partially supplied from its own nursery in Heyeveld. A recent development around the company is the Horti-Trade-Center, a place where providers of complementary products and services to the sector can come and do business. The Peters infrastructure was thoroughly renovated and extended again last year.