Glanbia has confirmed the sale of its share in Glanbia Cheese, a mozzarella maker, to joint venture partner, Leprino Foods.
The operation has three manufacturing facilities in Llangefni in Wales, Magheralin in Northern Ireland and Portlaoise.
The Kilkenny headquartered plc will receive a total €178.9 million in cash for its share and a possible further pay out of up to €25 million – dependent on the performance of Glanbia Cheese over the next three years.
In a statement Glanbia said:
“The transaction will be subject to customary post completion cash and working capital adjustments.
“The proceeds of the transaction will be used for general corporate purposes”.
The Kilkenny plc also added:
“Post completion, Glanbia will continue to focus on its better nutrition strategy serving consumer health and wellness categories through its consumer brands and ingredient solutions business.”
The company will be renamed as Leprino Foods UK Limited and Leprino Foods EU Limited.
Leprino Foods, which is family owned, is one of the world’s largest mozzarella cheese makers and a leading producer of whey protein and dairy ingredients.
The company was formed in Denver, Colorado in 1950 when Mike Leprino Sr. started making mozzarella cheese for his family’s corner grocery store.
Today it employs more than 4,000 people worldwide and has nine U.S. manufacturing facilities, previously had two global joint ventures and a sales offices in Asia.
Mike Durkin, president and chief executive of Leprino Foods said:
“With its distinction of being the leading mozzarella manufacturer in Europe, we are proud of the business that we helped build over the past two decades.
“With this acquisition now completed, we are extremely excited about the potential to take advantage of our combined expertise, knowledge and strengths to further enhance and expand our international presence by providing access to key markets across the globe.”
Meanwhile the current management team of Glanbia Cheese will continue to manage the day-to-day business, led by chief executive, Paul Vernon and his senior management team.
Vernon has previously said that operation had “a strong, well invested business with an excellent team and deep customer and supplier relationships”.
He believes that Glanbia Cheese will be a strong fit within Leprino Foods
Vernon also said that the management team was looking forward to working with Leprino Foods “to build on our success as a trusted supplier and business partner to our customers in the pizza category across the UK and Europe.”