Arla Foods Mayer Australia is set to take over an Australian cottage cheese producer, strengthening its position within a fast-growing category in the Australian market.
Arla Foods Mayer Australia (AFMA), a joint venture between Arla Foods and Australian family business Mayers Fine Food, is set to acquire Australian dairy producer Brancourts, AFMA announced in a press release.
Brancourts produces cottage cheese, sour cream and condensed milk, and traces its roots back to 1895, when the company was founded by French immigrants in Hexham, New South Wales. The company has been family-owned for more than 130 years. As part of the acquisition, AFMA plans to significantly expand production capacity at Brancourts’ Hexham site in order to accelerate growth in the cottage cheese category in Australia, according to the press release.
Cottage cheese is, according to the press release, one of the fastest-growing cheese categories globally, and growth has been particularly strong in Australia, where the category has reportedly seen volume growth of more than 40 per cent year-on-year and become the fastest-growing segment of the overall cheese category.
Part of a long-term strategy
AFMA was established in 2015 as a joint venture between Arla Foods and Mayers Fine Food, with Arla Foods holding the majority stake. The company sells butter and cheese products under brands including Lurpak and Castello in the Australian market.
“Through AFMA, Australians know and love Lurpak and Castello, and Brancourts represents an exciting opportunity to expand into a fast-growing adjacent category, where we already have global category expertise,” said Mai Roberts, General Manager of Arla Foods Mayer Australia, according to the press release. “We look forward to welcoming new colleagues to the business and, together, tapping into the significant long-term potential of the Australian market.”
Robbie Mayer, CEO of Mayers Fine Food, described the acquisition as a natural next step in the existing collaboration with Arla Foods.
“I am confident that the acquisition is a strong next step for our joint venture with Arla Foods,” he said, according to the press release. “We are excited to add new categories to our existing offers to customers, bringing further scale and category development to our long-standing collaboration with our commercial partners.”
For Brancourts, fourth-generation owner Julie Conradt highlighted that the choice of new owner was about shared values and a long-term vision for employees and the local community.
“For Brancourts and our family, finding the right successor to our business was about shared values and a long term vision for our people, our site and the Australian market,” she said, according to the press release. “AFMA brings the ambition to invest in the future of the business, while respecting the heritage, people and local relationships that have defined Brancourts for generations. After more than 130 years of family ownership, I am incredibly proud of the contribution our family, our team and our products have made to Australian dairy, and excited to see Brancourts’ potential continue to unfold under its new owners.”
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. Further details of the transaction, including its financial terms, have not been disclosed.
By Maja Løvstrup
Photo: Arla Foods
