Multinational Lactalis laps up Jalna Dairy Foods for about $200m

A deal for the yoghurt company is awaiting the finishing touches. Picture: Geoff Potter / Noosa News

Dairy company Lactalis is understood to have bought Jalna Dairy Foods, which was on the market through PwC.

DataRoom reported last week that Jalna’s owners had found a buyer.

Sources said the price was more than $200m, excluding the property assets, although it is unclear if this is what was offered by the dairy group behind Pauls milk, President and Lemnos cheese brands and Oak flavoured milk.

Lactalis is a French multinational dairy producer that generates about €20bn ($29.9bn) of annual revenue.

Its Australian operations were rebranded from Parmalat to Lactalis Australia in 2019 when it purchased the Parmalat shares did not already own.

It acquired the yoghurt and desserts business from dairy giant Fonterra in 2015.

Sources say a deal has largely been completed, but is awaiting finishing touches and requires Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

Jalna is among one of the country’s best-known Greek yoghurt brands.

The business was started by a Polish Jewish migrant in 1959 and is owned by the McLaren family, who bought it in 1978 for $350,000.

Jalna’s turnover is about $130m, and typically the earnings margins on yoghurt production and distribution are about 6 per cent.

As well as the yoghurt business, which includes a plastics factory that manufactures yoghurt tubs and lids, it also owns an 800ha dairy farm in northern Victoria, thought to be worth about $12m.

The deal comes ahead of plans by New Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra to float its $1.2bn Australian unit.

Jarden and UBS are working on the IPO, slated for the second half of this year.

Fonterra’s input costs in coming months will be a key focus for prospective investors.

In Australia Fonterra sells mainly cheese and butter, including brands such as Bega Cheese, Perfect Italiano and Western Star.

It is also involved in the ingredients business.

In Australia, Fonterra collects about 20 per cent of the total milk pool from farmers and supplies to manufacturers such as Bega.

It secured 1.4 billion litres of milk in 2020, mainly in Victoria and Tasmania.