France's Lactalis buys Italian cheesemaker Ambrosi (updated)
25/07/2022 13:14
(Adds details of deal)
By Francesco Zecchini
MILAN, July 25 (Reuters) - French dairy group Lactalis has
bought Ambrosi from Switzerland's Emmi EMMN.S and the family
that founded the Italian cheese maker, Emmi said in a statement
on Monday.
The groups did not disclose the purchase price but a source
told Reuters that the deal gives Ambrosi an enterprise value of
about 300 million euros ($307 million) and allows Lactalis to
widen its product range and create several production synergies.
Lactalis has expanded in recent years and bought Italian
dairy group Parmalat in 2011. The family-owned group counts many
household names such as France's brie cheese maker President and
Italy's mozzarella producer Vallelata among its brands.
Ambrosi - which produces parmigiano reggiano and other
Italian dairy specialities such as mozzarella, gorgonzola and
taleggio cheeses - had sales of 420 million euros in 2021.
It has four plants in Italy and subsidiaries in the UK,
United States and France, with around a third of the company's
430 employees working abroad.
Emmi had bought a 25% stake in Ambrosi in 2007 with the aim
of pushing its growth abroad, it said in the statement. The rest
of the group, which has its headquarters close to the northern
city of Brescia, is owned by the Ambrosi family.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen&Hamilton acted as Lactalis' legal
advisors. CP Advisors acted as financial advisor for Ambrosi
while Pedersoli and Pirola acted as its legal advisors.
($1 = 0.9757 euros)
(Reporting by Francesco Zecchini, editing by Giulia Segreti and
Keith Weir)
((Giulia.Segreti@tr.com; +39.06.80307714;))