French dairy giant Danone has sold its minority stake in Ireland-based yogurt and milk firm Glenisk.
Danone’s shares in the company, which were reported to amount to a stake of 38%. were redeemed by mutual agreement. Glenisk is now 100% owned by the Cleary family, which consists of siblings Gerard, Mark, Vincent, Brian and Evelyn.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
US organic dairy business Stonyfield acquired a minority stake in the Irish enterprise in 2006. Through that deal, Danone, which took over Stonyfield, acquired a controlling stake in Stonyfield Europe.
Privately-owned French dairy giant Lactalis acquired Stonyfield from Danone in 2017 for $875m but Danone remained a minority shareholder in Glenisk. The company continued to be majority-owned and fully managed by the Cleary family.
Glenisk managing director Vincent Cleary said: “The partnership with Danone was a positive arrangement for Glenisk, enabling the company to invest in its manufacturing facility in Killeigh and in product innovation and branding. The board of directors have now determined that a return to full ownership by the Cleary family is in the business’s best interest.”
Glenisk has restored its manufacturing facility in Killeigh after a fire destroyed it in September 2021.
The fire at the company’s base in County Offaly in the Irish midlands left the facility in ruins but no one working there at the time was injured.
Danone offloaded a factory in Spain in April when it sold it to Dutch dairy producer Royal A-ware. The company had made quark and desserts at the facility in the north-western town of Salas
April also saw Danone Manifesto Ventures, the venture-capital arm of the food producer, invest in cell-based dairy and infant-formula manufacturer Wilk Technologies.
