Deal worth up to €200 m sealed for Laois pizza cheese plant in Portlaoise

A deal has been sealed that sees a US company take full ownership of a big mozzarella cheese plant in Portlaoise in a buyout sale worth up to €200 million to Glanbia.

Further to its announcement on March 1, 2023, Glanbia plc has confirmed the completion of the sale of its shareholdings in Glanbia Cheese to Leprino Foods Company.

The Irish food giant explained the finances. It said the transaction proceeds of €178.9 million have been received in cash. This comprises of a consideration of €114 million and repayment of €64.9 million of shareholder loans.

Glanbia says a further contingent consideration of up to €25 million is dependent on the performance of Glanbia Cheese over the next three years. The Irish company says the transaction will be subject to post-completion cash and working capital adjustments. Glanbia says the proceeds of the transaction will be used for general corporate purposes.

Following a transition period post-completion, the Glanbia Cheese business will be renamed Leprino Foods UK Limited and Leprino Foods EU Limited.

The Portlaoise plant is one of three Glanbia Cheese manufacturing facilities; the others are in Llangefni in Wales, Magheralin in Northern Ireland.

Glanbia says the existing team will continue to manage the business, led by CEO Paul Vernon and his senior management team, with no disruption to day-to-day operations.

Post completion, Glanbia plc will continue to focus on its better nutrition strategy serving consumer health and wellness categories through its consumer brands and ingredient solutions business.

The two firms partnered almost 50:50 in the Portlaoise plant which went into operation in April 2021 making pizza mozzarella cheese for the European market.

Glanbia previously said 100 people work at the plant has a production capacity of 45,000 tonnes of mozzarella cheese per annum.

The 40,000-metric ton facility requires significant amounts of dairy ingredients - the equivalent of 400 million litres of milk a year to operate.

The development, which was announced in July 2018, was the first big client to set up in the Laois County Council driven National Enterprise Park in Portlaoise.  It is located near the M7 Togher interchange on a new access road built by the Council that also links to the town's Clonminham Industrial Estate.

Based in Denver, Colorado, and founded as a small, family-run cheese business 65 years ago, Leprino Foods now claims to be the world’s largest mozzarella cheese maker and top producer of whey protein and dairy ingredients.

Still family-owned, the company says it prides itself on having a reputation of being a dairy industry pioneer, supplying the highest-quality products to food and nutrition companies around the globe.

Leprino says it employs approximately 5,000 people worldwide and has global sales in over 55 countries. The company adds that its expanding international presence provides access to key markets across the globe.

“With its distinction of being the leading mozzarella manufacturer in Europe, we are proud of the business that we helped build over the past two decades,” Leprino Foods President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Durkin, said. “With this acquisition now completed, we are extremely excited about the potential to take advantage of our combined expertise, knowledge and strengths to further enhance and expand our international presence by providing access to key markets across the globe.”

Glanbia confirmed to the Leinster Express / LAOIS Live there will be no redundancies adding that it "will be very much business as usual" for the Portlaoise operation and other plants in Glanbia Cheese that are part of the deal. 

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Glanbia said in March that the joint venture with Leprino contributed approximately €7.3 million to the share of profit after tax of Glanbia.