A leading global brand
SESVanderHave is a competitive, international brand in the sugar beet sector. We are a unique and dedicated partner for growers and industry. As sugar beet experts, we cover every step in the process, from breeding new varieties to the commercialization and distribution of our blue sugar beet seeds.
SESVanderHave has its headquarters in Belgium’s "sugar capital" Tienen, which is also the location of one of our main factories where our sugar beet seeds are processed.
Every year, SESVanderHave sells over one million units of one hundred thousand seeds each. Worldwide, SESVanderHave sells its sugar beet varieties in more than 50 countries. Each variety is developed considering the needs of individual markets, anywhere in the world.
Our history
The history of VanderHave goes back as far as 1879, the year in which D.J. Vander Have set up a seed company in Zeeland. Selection and breeding of sugar beet seed began in 1941. In 1977, VanderHave was taken over by Cosun (Suiker Unie).
The foundations of SES Europe were laid in 1948 with the creation of S.B.G.B. (the Belgian Sugar Beet Seed Company - Société Belge de Graine de Betterave Sucrière). As a result of problems with the production, quality and supply of sugar beet seeds after WWII, Belgian sugar manufacturers needed to set up their own seed company.
This company grew and rapidly began to expand internationally. In 1972, S.B.G.B. merged with an Italian seed firm, and changed its name to SES.
In 1987, SES was taken over by the British multinational ICI, which, in 1993 decided to group several activities – including seeds – within a separate international company called Zeneca.
In 1996, Zeneca and Cosun merged to form Advanta, the world’s fifth largest seed company.
In 2005, Advanta sold its sugar beet seed activities to the Florimond Desprez group, a French family-owned business specialising in seeds. At the time of the above-mentioned takeover in 2005, the SESVanderHave brand was created. A brand with strong foundations that is 100% focussed on sugar beet seed and that is considered a trusted, experienced and dedicated partner for farmer and industry.
On 17 September 2024, the Florimond Desprez group and DLF Seeds A/S – both global players in the seed industry – merged their sugar beet, fodder beet, and industrial chicory seed businesses and the related R&D activities into a new joint venture called United Beet Seeds (UBS). UBS includes, among others, the commercial brand SESVanderHave.
