Clearance For Arla Foods UK and Yeo Valley Deal
The British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Arla Foods UK’s proposed acquisition of Yeo Valley Dairies, a subsidiary of the Yeo Valley Group. The transaction will give the farmer-owned dairy co-operative the rights to use the Yeo Valley brand in milk, butter, spreads and cheese under an intellectual property licence with Yeo Valley.
The Yeo Valley yogurt, ice cream, cream and desserts business will continue to be run independently through Yeo Valley Group, which remains under the ownership of the Mead family.
Ash Amirahmadi, managing director of Arla Foods UK, says: “This is significant news for our business, the industry and our farmer owners. We want to maximise the growth in organic dairy products and continued investment in the Yeo Valley and Arla brands will be key to this. We particularly want to extend a warm welcome to the dairy farmers within the Coombe Farm Milk Pool who are partner suppliers to Waitrose Duchy Organic.Our cooperative beliefs and values are very aligned and we look forward to working closely in the coming months.”
