Lactalis buys LaDorna

Romanian Valvis, the creator of the Dorna brands, has sold the LaDorna dairy business to French-based Lactalis, in a deal said to be worth €70-90 million.

The takeover was signed on 16 April and marks the second exit from the Dorna business after the mineral water business was sold to Coca-Cola in 2002.

LaDorna is one of top five dairy companies in Romania and with the acquisition, Lactalis has directly entered the €1 billion Romanian market, whose medium-term potential is €3-4 billion.

“The deal was done relatively quickly. In January we signed a memorandum of understanding and closed the deal in April,” says Jean Valvis, the owner of Valvis. No further details have been revealed.