EGYPT – Lactalis, French giant dairy group has acquired Greenland Group for Food Industries, an Egyptian cheese maker and subsidiary of Middle East food company Americana Group.

The move for Greenland was conducted through Lactalis’ joint-venture facility, Lactalis-Halawa, just-food reports.

In the statement announcing the deal, Lactalis said the acquisition will strengthen the joint venture’s position as the major dairy products manufacturer in Egypt.

“The acquisition of Green Land will effectively strengthen our position in the cheese category, but since the start of the partnership with Halawa we always worked to build a strong position in all the categories of dairy products such as p-processed cheese, then white cheese, yogurts since 2008/09 and UHT milk since 2011,” said Lactalis spokesperson.

“The deal testifies to the Lactalis Group’s constant interest in developing the Egyptian market”, the company noted.

According to Lactalis, Greenland’s main business operations revolve around cheese, with five production sites in Egypt employing 1,250 people.

Founded in 1995, Greenland produces cheeses, ghee, milk, juices and other fresh dairy products destined for food service channels, according to its website.

The company exports to around 50 countries, including the US, the European Union, North Africa and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council in the Middle East.

The Lactalis–Halawa Group is a major producer of Dairy Products in Egypt with presence across all dairy categories, including Cheeses -Processed Cheese, White Cheese, Pizza Cheese- Chilled Dairy Milk -UHT and Fresh Milk – Juices Infant Nutrition.

The transaction comes at a time when French dairy company, Lactalis reached an agreement to acquire an Indian milk-processing business ans Maharashtra based, Prabhat Dairy, for US$238.37 million.

Last year, the Lactalis acquired the Malysian assets of Swiss food group Nestle to include the latter’s operations in chilled dairy, the production of cold sauces and the packing of milk powder.

It also bought up the infant-formula business of aspen Pharmacare in South Africa giving the French dairy company ownership of the Alula, Infacare and S-26 brands.