Glanbia Co-op last night placed 8.84 million shares in Glanbia plc last night at a price of €7.60. The placing, equivalent to 3 per cent of the company, was valued at €67.2 million.

The move came after shareholders in the listed company approved a proposal to enter a dairy processing joint venture with majority shareholder, Glanbia Co-op.

At an extraordinary general meeting in Kilkenny yesterday, investors supported the deal, which will see the plc take on the milk processing function in a joint venture split 60-40 between the two companies.

Some 71 per cent of co-op members last week voted to take majority ownership in Glanbia's dairy ingredients business, which will be known as Glanbia Ingredients Ireland. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of this week.