FDBusiness.com

German dairy company, ODW Frischprodukte, a subsidiary of Odenwald Fruchte, is acquiring the FrieslandCampina site at Elsterwerda in Germany. In addition to the land and buildings, ODW Frischprodukte will also purchase part of the equipment for the production of yoghurt and desserts.

Part of the agreement between the two companies is that a number of FrieslandCampina dairy products will be produced in Elsterwerda until 2013. The new owner, ODW Frischprodukte, will take on the 330 employees, but plans to reduce the workforce gradually. FrieslandCampina will relocate production lines for yoghurt and desserts to other locations in Gutersloh and Heilbronn by 31st March 2012.

In December 2009, FrieslandCampina announced that it wished to close a number of locations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, including the Elsterwerda location, in mid-2011 and relocate production to other locations.