Lactalis should deepen its presence in Portugal with the acquisition of the local cheese manufacturer Queijos Tavares.
The dairy giant whose headquarters is in France declared that it has bought the trade in cow, sheep and goats from the Lisbon-based capital-investment company, Crest Capital Partners. The financial conditions were not disclosed in a press release from Lactalis.
The latest Lactalis agreement in Portugal follows its acquisition from Sequeira & Sequeira in March of last year.
Founded in 1996, Queijos Tavares produced cheeses in the regions of Seia and Fundão in central Portugal.
The company provides products under the Seia do Tavares, Serras de Penela, Damar and Monte Da Soalheira.
It provides cheese to food distributors and the hotel sector. Its range includes three products with a protected original designation status (APD).
The agreement includes the acquisition of the two production facilities of Queijos Tavares located in Seia and Fundão. It will increase the production sites of Lactalis in Portugal to four, including Sequeira & Sequeira, which was integrated in 2024, according to the press release.
As part of the transaction, 120 employees will join Lactalis’ operations in Portugal, which brings to 820 its total workforce in the country at 820.
The transaction is subject to the approval of the competition authorities.
Crest Capital had not responded to Just food Request to comment on the transaction at the time of writing the time of the editorial staff and why she had chosen to sell the business.
A family group founded in 1933 in Laval, in France, Lactalis operated in 50 countries with nearly 270 dairy and cheese dairies.
In April, the group announced It exceeded 30 billion euros ($ 34.1 billion) in income Last year for the first time.
However, the company’s net profit dropped from 19% in 2024 to 359 million euros due to an uncharified and not specified tax settling at the end of the year with the French authorities.
At the beginning of 2024, the private company would have is the subject of an investigation By the national parquet financier (PNF), or the office of the national financial prosecutor, for alleged tax fraud dating from 2018.
Nevertheless, income increased by 2.8% to 30.3 billion euros, but slowing down growth of 4.3% in 2023.
The operating profit increased by 4.3%, although the Lactalis did not provide final figures, while net profit increased from 428 million euros in the previous 12 months.
Last year, the dairy giant said that he had invested more than 1 billion euros in his manufacturing network, including upgrades to facilities in France, Italy, the United States and Australia.
These upgrades included improvements in its Larceveau Cremerie for Ossau-Iraty cheese, and the installation of new production and packaging lines in installations in Certosa, Italy; Tulare, United States; And Bendigo, Australia.
