Lactalis eyes Puleva dairy in takeover talks

The French family-owned dairy Lactalis, one of the world’s top three milk processors with a turnover of over EUR 9 billion, is to take over the market-leading dairy division of the Ebro Puleva group (Puleva Foods) in Spain. Around EUR630 million is believed to have changed hands in this purchase which has been undertaken to give, says Lactalis, more presence in the Spanish market. Lactalis has been working on expanding its market there for some time now and is also awaiting EU monopolies commission approval to complete its take over of Forlasa, the Spanish producer of world-famous Manchengo sheep milk cheeses. Should it all come together, Lactalis could start next year with 12 dairy plants in Spain and a turnover put at around EUR1.2 billion from production in that country.