Bel Group and Brittania join forces in India
Image: Bel
Britannia Industries, a food and snacks company in India and Bel, a French cheese maker, have signed an agreement to enter into a joint venture to offer Indian consumers a world-class range of nutritious, delicious and accessible cheese products. Bel shall acquire 49% stake in Britannia’s wholly owned subsidiary BDPL (Britannia Dairy Private Limited). The entity thereafter shall be renamed as Britannia Bel Foods Private Limited.
The cheese products will be produced in the JV’s new, state-of-the-art-facility at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra. The facility is backward-integrated to collect milk from local farmers in the region. The products will be co-branded using the trademarks “Britannia” and “The Laughing Cow” and will be introduced in innovative formats, to ride on the fast-growing cheese category in the country. Abhishek Sinha, chief business officer, dairy business, Britannia is now the CEO of the partnership.
By joining forces through the joint venture Bel Group and Britannia will create the best conditions to accelerate the development of the nascent cheese market in India due to the strategic complementarity of the two companies, the partners say. Britannia Industries will hold 51 per cent stake in the joint venture company, while Bel Group will hold 49 per cent.