Arrabawn Co-Operative Society Ltd. and Tipperary Co-Operative Creameries Ltd., have today (Friday, February 21) welcomed confirmation by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) that it has cleared the proposed merger of Arrabawn and Tipperary to form a new cooperative society.

It will be called Arrabawn Tipperary Co-Operative Society Ltd.

Arrabawn and Tipperary will now proceed to complete the merger with a target date of February 28, 2025 for its official launch.

The merger of the two co-ops came last year following the unanimous decision by the boards of Arrabawn and Tipperary.

The deal was put to respective milk supplying shareholders for approval, where it saw the required 75% plus vote in favour of the merger, with 94% of both memberships giving their approval.

The co-ops were awaiting approval from the CCPC, which protects the interests of consumers and has the power to block mergers and acquisitions where it finds that the deal would lead to a substantial lessening of competition.

Now that the deal is approved by the CCPC, business can go ahead and the new merged co-op, which will be a dairy and agri-trading cooperative, will be officially launched, next Friday, February 28.

Arrabawn collects milk from over 1,000 shareholder farmers, generating a turnover of over €403 million per year. It comprises food ingredients and agriculture business units that produce a range of B2B (business to business) and dairy consumer products.

Tipperary co-op has over 400 suppliers all situated within a 40km radius of the processing site. It has a daily milk pool of over one million litres, allowing the production of a wide range of dairy products.

Now that the merger is complete, the new entity will be owned and controlled by over 4,800 members, with more than 1,400 milk suppliers supplying almost 750 million litres of milk annually.

The new co-op will have projected annual turnover exceeding €700 million, however representatives for the co-op have not revealed who will take over as permanent chief executive officer (CEO) of the new business yet, but it's understood Arrabawn CEO, Conor Ryan, will initially step into the role.