FDBusiness.com

French co-operative Agrial has strengthened its milk business by acquiring a minority stake in Delicelait, a producer of dairy ingredients, for an undisclosed sum. As part of the deal, Agrial will supply 70m litres of milk annually to Delicelait with a view to increasing this to 120m litres.

The move is in line with Agrial’s strategy of expanding its milk business, which currently accounts for about 10% of group turnover of Eur2.2b. Agrial is planning to merge its milk operations with those of Elle & Vire, the Normandy-based co-operative, in June. The combined business will have annual production of 900m litres of milk.