Lactalis Canada to acquire Agropur’s Canadian yoghurt business

  • 21 December 2020
  • M&A
The deal includes the Iögo and Iögo Nanö yoghurt brands and production facilities in Granby and Delta, as well as operations in Longueuil
Kid takes an Iogo yogurt from a bucket full of Agropur products
Photo as seen on the Facebook page of Agropur’s Iogo brand

The Canadian arm of French dairy giant Lactalis has agreed to buy Agropur Cooperative’s Canadian yoghurt business, Ultima Foods, including the Iögo and Iögo Nanö yogurt brands, as well as the Olympic yogurt, sour cream and kefir brand.

Lactalis Canada’s acquisition includes Ultima’s yogurt production facilities in Granby, Quebec and Delta, British Columbia, as well as the operations at a leased distribution centre in Longueuil, Quebec. The acquisition will add approximately 450 employees to Lactalis’s existing 3,500 employees and 30 operating sites which include 17 manufacturing facilities in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba. Lactalis Canada’s existing brands include Astro, siggi’s and Stonyfield.

Mark Taylor, president and chief executive of Lactalis Canada, said: “As a broadly-based dairy products company in Canada, producing and supplying a wide variety of popular brands, this transaction will reinforce Lactalis Canada’s position in the dairy category and will help enable key customer partners in both the retail and foodservice channels meet the growing consumer demand for yogurt products.”

“Lactalis Canada’s mission is to build on its family heritage to delight consumers with life-enriching dairy products, while making sustainable economic and social contributions that benefit its people, industry, partners and the communities in which it operates. In keeping with our mission, Lactalis Canada is confident that this transaction will positively support dairy farmers, retailers, consumers and the communities of Granby and Longueuil, as well as Delta.”

In September Groupe Lactalis’s US affiliate agreed to pay $3.2 billion to the Kraft Heinz Company for its natural, grated, cultured and speciality cheese businesses to in a deal that is expected to close in the first half of next year.