Quebec dairy co-op Agropur has taken a further step into the U.S. market by buying a Michigan processing plant for ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurized and aseptic milk.
Agropur, Canada’s largest dairy co-operative, announced Tuesday it would buy the Grand Rapids, Mich. processing plant from Farmland Dairies for an undisclosed sum.
“This most recent acquisition is a leading manufacturer and marketer of on-trend UHT and aseptic dairy products,” Agropur CEO, Pierre Claprood said in a release Tuesday.
The Farmland plant, he said, “represents a great fit with our current fluid milk operations in the U.S. and will allow us to keep building a strong foundation for continued growth south of the border.”
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Agropur said it will merge the Grand Rapids operation into Schroeder Milk, a Minnesota dairy company the co-op also bought last year and has since designated as the U.S. base for Agropur’s Natrel division.
Farmland Dairies’ Michigan plant makes its “shelf-stable” Parmalat and Lil’ Milk brands and processes and packages all UHT aseptic dairy and broth products.
Farmland, based in Wallington, N.J., spent parts of 2004 and 2005 under bankruptcy protection in the wake of the bankruptcy of its then-owner, scandal-plagued Italian dairy giant Parmalat.
Farmland came out of bankruptcy in 2005 as Parmalat’s U.S. dairy business reorganized under the Farmland Dairies name.
Agropur’s announcement comes just after the co-op announced plans Monday to close the former Laitierie Lamothe, a Drummondville, Que. dairy plant it bought just last year.
The Lamothe plant, which will close Nov. 20 and put 41 people out of work, would have needed “significant investments” to continue operating, Agropur said.
