BRUSSELS: Arla Foods has sold its stake in a Belgium milk processor to the privately owned French dairy giant Lactalis.
Danish giant Arla Foods, the world’s 6th largest dairy company, has agreed to sell its 49% stake in Walhorn AG to the privately owned French dairy processor Lactalis.
Walhorn AG was originally set up as a 49:51 joint venture between Lactalis and ESM Walhorn, a Belgium co-op owned by 800 farmers processing almost 550m litres of milk annually.
When ESM Walhorn merged with Arla in 2014, the Danish processor inherited the co-op’s 49% stake in the Walhorn AG joint venture.
Since then, Lactalis and Arla have been in talks over the future of Walhorn AG and an agreement has now been reached for Arla to sell its 49% stake to Lactalis. A selling price has not been disclosed.
Walhorn AG operates from a single site in East Belgium producing primarily milk powder, various liquid milk products and cream.
