Glanbia in joint venture talks

Food group Glanbia has said it is continuing to engage in constructive discussions with its majority shareholder, Glanbia Co-Operative Society.

The talks are about creating a joint venture (40/60) in respect of its Irish dairy processing business Dairy Ingredients Ireland, the global nutritionals group said in a statement today.

Dairy Ingredients Ireland is the largest dairy ingredients processor in the country, and is a business unit of the Dairy Ireland division of Glanbia.

"The purpose and strategy of the proposed new joint venture will be to facilitate the continued development of the existing global Dairy Ingredients business including the flexibility to expand milk processing capacity post the abolition of EU milk quotas in 2015," according to the food group.

For any new processing capacity to be ready for 2015 a planning application needs to be submitted in early July. As a result, Glanbia is finalising an option to purchase a greenfield site at Belview, Co Kilkenny from IDA Ireland.

"Considerable progress has been made with the proposed transaction and while discussions are progressing well, it is now expected that these discussions will not be concluded before the end of August 2012," the company said.