News Milk
Glanbia has money to buy Irish dairy branch
Cooperative Glanbia has secured the financing for the acquisition of all of Glanbia Ireland. That is now 40% owned by Glanbia plc. This company, with a turnover of €3,8 billion, is active in dairy and grains and has factories in the US as well as in Ireland.
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The takeover of Glanbia Ireland by the Glanbia cooperative has been discussed for some time. At the end of last year, the members of this cooperative agreed to the takeover plan. €40 million must be raised to purchase the remaining 307% in Glanbia Ireland from the listed parent company.
Cooperative holds most of the shares in Glanbia plc
Initially, the cooperative thought it could pay for this by selling a large part of its shareholding in Glanbia plc. That plan has changed. For the time being, the Glanbia cooperative is only selling just under 2% of the shares in the parent company for a company worth €70 million. Another 30,5% of the shares are still held. In addition to the aforementioned €70 million, €250 million is borrowed from private equity, or large investors, with 15 million shares in Glanbia plc as collateral.
Factories back in farmers' hands
As a final step, the shareholders of Glanbia plc must still approve the transaction. According to analysts, the cooperative pays a below-average price, but the buyer also runs a certain risk with the transaction. However, chairman John Murphy is happy with the purchase and expects his cooperative's members to benefit from it now that the Irish factories are back in their own hands.
Waiting for a ruling on the new cheese factory
Glanbia also wants to build a factory for the production of 'continental' cheese in Belview together with Royal A-ware. However, the construction of this factory has been delayed by lawsuits. The Irish highest court expects to make a decisive ruling on this soon.