11 June 2009 - Milk Link is pleased to be able to announce that it has completed its acquisition of the Llandyrnog cheese creamery in North Wales.
The acquisition which was negotiated with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, receivers to Dairy Farmers of Britain, was undertaken for an undisclosed sum. The transaction secures the future of the Welsh creamery, preserving jobs and safeguarding the livelihoods of approximately 300 dairy farmers.
The acquisition of Llandrynog, the leading Welsh cheese creamery, complements Milk Link’s existing British hard cheese and crumbly territorial cheese business. The creamery will now join Milk Link’s portfolio of cheese creameries which includes Lockerbie in South West Scotland, Taw Valley in Devon and the two speciality creameries: Reece’s in Cheshire and Tuxford & Tebbutt in Leicestershire.
Commenting on the transaction, Neil Kennedy Milk Link’s Chief Executive said, “The acquisition of Llandyrnog is another positive development for Milk Link and reinforces our leadership of the British cheese market. The creamery in terms of its assets and staff, the products and brands it produces, and its customer base are of good quality and we believe that it will be an important contributor to our value added processing business.
“In securing the future of the creamery, we have also ensured that there is a long term requirement for high quality milk produced by dairy farmers in North Wales, Lancashire and the Midlands. In the last couple of days our milk procurement team have signed up over 200 farmers and we are confident that we will have secured the milk required for the creamery by the end of this week.
“Looking forward we will now focus on developing the business using as a basis the undoubted quality of the cheese it produces.”
Stephen Oldfield, joint receiver and manager of Dairy Farmers of Britain Ltd, said: “We’re pleased to announce a sale that secures jobs for all the Llandyrnog Creamery workers and new milk contracts for the relevant farmers a week into our appointment and wish Milk Link well with their new acquisition. There was significant interest in the plant as it is modern and has a clear differentiated offering of Welsh traditional cheese. We’ve been grateful for the support of farmers, hauliers and employees in keeping the milk flowing and the cheese maturing while a suitable sale was agreed.”