News Milk
Irish Lakeland Dairies buys De Brandt butter trade
The Irish Lakeland Dairies has taken over the commercial activities of the Belgian butter trader De Brandt. Both companies have known each other for years and do a lot of business with each other. According to the Irish cooperative, the acquisition will significantly broaden the portfolio and geographical reach of its products.
The Belgian De Brandt Group is a family business, consisting of a trading company - De Brandt Dairy International, and a storage company - Food Logistics. The first is the largest and reported a turnover of around €2022 million and a net profit of €320 million for 9. This company will pass into Irish hands. An acquisition price has not been announced. The company is highly specialized and is mainly active in the business-to-business market. The acquisition is interesting for Lakeland because of its position in premium texturized butter. The Irish cooperative wants to grow further in this segment.
Lakeland Dairies is a cooperative with 3.200 members, a milk supply of 2 billion kilos and an annual turnover of €2022 billion in 1,9. The cooperative's headquarters are in Killygarry, Ireland. The company is active in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Collaboration for 20 years
Close commercial ties have existed between Lakeland and De Brandt for about 20 years. These date from the time when De Brandt entered into a partnership with the Ballyrashane cooperative, which has long since been incorporated into Lakeland. The De Brandt family indicated at the end of last year that they wanted to sell the commercial activities and were the first to offer them to partner Lakeland. After several months of negotiations, the sale became a fact. The commercial activities will move to Ireland, the storage activities will remain with De Brandt and remain in Dendermonde, Belgium.
Klaas van der Horst
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