The Theo Müller Group is taking over the entire German business of FrieslandCampina. The deal includes the three plants as well as several brands, the business has sales of about €950m. FrieslandCampina Germany’s approximately 1,000 employees were informed of the intended sale today.
With the proposed transaction FrieslandCampina will sell the following business activities to Unterhmensgruppe Theo Müller: the brands Landliebe, Tuffi, Südmilch, Puddis, Mondelice, various private labels in the white dairy range produced by FrieslandCampina in Germany, the foodservice brand Gastro, as well as the production facilities, warehouses and distribution centres in Heilbronn, Cologne, and Schefflenz.
Moving forward, FrieslandCampina Germany will focus on the marketing and sales of its international brands Valess, Chocomel, its cheese brands – including Frico and Holland Master – and private labels produced by FrieslandCampina outside Germany – including cheese and cream spray cans. Additionally, the company will continue its Professional business. FrieslandCampina will also maintain its presence with Kievit in Lippstadt and with DFE Pharma in Goch and Nörten-Hardenberg.
FrieslandCampina will continue to collect and process the milk from its German member dairy farmers. For the German member dairy farmers, the rights and obligations associated with membership of the cooperative remain unchanged. They will also continue to be entitled to the FrieslandCampina guaranteed price, the supplementary cash payment, allocation of profit to the general reserves and, if applicable, any supplementary payments. The new owner will take over the supplier contracts of the German non-member dairy farmers.
Member of Royal FrieslandCampina’s Executive Board and President of FrieslandCampina Food & Beverage, Roel van Neerbos commented: “The market position and results of FrieslandCampina Germany have improved significantly in recent years through targeted measures. Nevertheless, we are convinced that in the new owner, the Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller, we have found a suitable successor who, through synergy benefits, will be able to further develop this company successfully. FrieslandCampina will continue to focus on selling its strong international brands in Germany which is one of our home markets.”
Stefan Müller, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller, commented: “We are convinced that this acquisition will be highly complementary to our successful dairy portfolio on the German market and will make a positive contribution to the growth course of Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller.”
