SWITZERLAND – Dairy company Emmi has announced that it is postpone its stock market flotation.

Part of the reason for the decision is that the Swiss Competition Commission is to carry out a detailed investigation into Emmi’s proposed acquisition of cheesemaker SDF. Emmi will now draw up new finance and business plans.

However, Emmi is keen to be the top cheese producer in Switzerland, and says it expects to complete the takeover by January 2003.

To finance the SDF acquisition Emmi launched a convertible bond last year, aimed at a stock market flotation in 2005. The company then decided to bring that date forward to 2002. In a statement last week, Emmi then said: “The economic situation, especially in the dairy and cheese sector both in Switzerland as well as in the rest of Europe, has drastically deteriorated. The board of directors has therefore reached the decision to postpone the stock market flotation to 2004/2005 as originally planned.” Emmi claims that cheese exports during the first half of 2002 have fallen significantly. It has blamed this on a poor exchange rate and the reduction of state contributions to help exports. At the same time, European competitors have reduced product prices by up to 15%.