Kraft Heinz Co has agreed to sell its Canadian natural cheese business to Parmalat SpA in a C$1.62 billion ($1.23 billion) deal that will help Kraft trim its debt and extend the North American footprint of Parmalat owner Lactalis, Reuters says.
Parmalat’s acquisition in Canada marks a further addition to the North American footprint of France’s Lactalis, the world’s largest dairy firm that controls nearly 90 percent of Parmalat.
French authorities have given dairy giant Lactalis permission to resume selling baby milk from a factory that was closed after salmonella-contaminated milk produced there infected dozens of babies, the government said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Lactalis, one of the world’s largest dairy groups, had to recall 12 million tins in France and around the world because of the contamination, in a scandal that hit the reputation of France’s agri-business industry.
Lactalis has carried out tests at the plant in the northwestern town of Craon for more than three months under the supervision of French health authorities, which will carry out regular, unannounced inspections at the plant in the future.
Privately owned Lactalis, which has said the crisis could cost it hundreds of million of euros, had said that the production line linked to the contamination would be closed permanently but it was awaiting permission from French authorities to restart output at its other production line, Reuters says.
Privately held French dairy group Lactalis said on the past Thursday its takeover of Aspen’s global infant formula business would boost its presence in Latin America, Africa, Australia and Asia.
Aspen said earlier on Thursday that it was selling the business to Lactalis for 12.9 billion rand ($864.5 million).
France should appoint a “food safety police” and increase fines on those who sell contaminated products to avoid a repeat of the salmonella outbreak at a Lactalis milk factory last year that led to dozens of babies falling ill, lawmakers said.
Lactalis, the world’s largest dairy group, had to recall more than 12 million tins of baby milk in France and around the world due to the outbreak, in a scandal that hit the reputation of France’s strategic agri-business industry in overseas markets.
France’s National Assembly launched a special enquiry into the scandal, which deepened when errors in the massive product recall left some potentially contaminated baby milk on shop shelves.
In their findings, lawmakers recommended tougher judicial and financial sanctions against food makers in case they sell a contaminated product.
France, seeking to limit reputational damage to its agri-business industry, threatened on Thursday the past week to impose sanctions after the country’s big supermarkets said recalled baby foods made by Lactalis had still found their way onto shop shelves.
The admissions deepened a salmonella health scare that began in early December when France’s consumer protection agency ordered the halt to sales and a global recall of products from a factory in northwest France. Three dozen children have fallen ill.
Privately-held Lactalis, which has annual sales of around 17 billion euros ($20 billion), addressed the salmonella contamination by halting operations at the factory where it started, and announced the temporary layoff of 250 workers.
The recall included products aimed for export to some 30 countries, including to China, and overall represented more than 12 million baby food tins was the biggest recall Lactalis had ever experienced.
French dairy firm Lactalis said on Friday it had agreed to buy siggi‘s, the U.S.-based maker of Icelandic style skyr yogurts, for an undisclosed price.
Lactalis said the deal “further expands our yogurt platform in the U.S. with this unique and fast-growing yogurt brand.”
After moving to New York from Iceland, siggi’s founder Siggi Hilmarsson felt American yogurt was too sweet and artificial for his liking. He felt homesick for skyr, a sweet Icelandic yoghurt/curd concoction.
Based on a recipe sent by his mother, Siggi began making skyr and went on to establish his own company in 2005 to sell it in the United States.
Privately-owned French dairy giant Lactalis has entered into an agreement to acquire US organic dairy business Stonyfield from Danone for US$ 875m.
Lactalis is launching a buyout offer for shares in Italian group Parmalat it does not already own, with the aim to delist the company from the Milan stock exchange.
Lactalis for years denied speculation that it planned to delist Parmalat, which was relaunched in 2005 after going bankrupt following a financial scandal two years earlier, to have free rein in running the group.
Romanian dairy producer Albalact is in the process of being taken over by French group Lactalis, Mediafax informs. Albalact’s shareholders have agreed to sell their stakes totaling 70.3 percent in a takeover bid launched by Lactalis aiming to hold 100 percent of Albalact.
This is the second big move the French group is making in Romania, after buying LaDorna from Jean Valvis in 2008.
Arla Foods and the privately-owned dairy company Lactalis have reached an agreement concerning the future of their common joint venture, Walhorn AG in Belgium.
Since the merger between Arla and Eupener Genossenschaftsmolkerei Walhorn (EGM Walhorn) in August 2014, Arla became the legal successor of the 49 per cent ownership of the joint venture company Walhorn AG – with the French dairy company Lactalis owning 51 per cent of the shares.
Since then, Lactalis and Arla have engaged in a dialogue about the future of Walhorn AG, and an agreement has now been reached for Arla to sell its legal shares of Walhorn AG to Lactalis on June 30th, 2015. The existing milk delivery agreement between both parties will continue with all rights and obligations until the end of June 2016. After expiry of the agreement Arla Foods and Lactalis will make another agreement in which Arla Foods takes the obligation to deliver 100 million kilogramm milk per year to Walhorn AG.
Walhorn AG operates a dairy site in the East Belgian village of Walhorn near Eupen, producing primarily milk powder, various liquid milk productsand cream.
The decision by Arla to sellto Lactalisits share of the Walhorn AG joint venture, will not change the future of the 800 members of the cooperative EGM Walhorn becoming cooperative owners in Arla Foods.