Zurich, Jan 9 - Swiss dairy group Emmi said it had bought U.S. specialist cheese company Roth Kase for an undisclosed sum, making the United States its biggest foreign market and boosting the group's shares.
The U.S. cheese market is worth around $16.4 billion, said Emmi, of which the speciality cheese segment accounted for around $1 billion and grew around 15 percent last year.
"We have always seen the U.S. market as one of large potential for Emmi, given its domestic market (80 percent of sales) is largely saturated," said Kepler Capital Markets analyst Jon Cox, who valued Roth at around $45 million.
"We like the way the company is moving and continue to monitor Emmi closely," said Cox, adding the company also struck up a partnership with German discounter Lidl recently to build a bigger beach-head into the German market.