Agropur Closes Purcahse of Davisco Foods International

11 Aug 2014 --- Agropur Cooperative has completed the transaction to acquire Davisco Foods International.Agropur financed the total consideration from existing cash resources and new credit facilities fully-underwritten by the Co-Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners Desjardins Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets and Rabobank.

Caisse centrale Desjardins is acting as Administrative Agent. Bank of Montreal and Rabobank are acting as Co-Syndication Agents. National Bank of Canada is acting as Documentation Agent. Desjardins Capital Markets acted as financial advisor to Agropur.

At the end of last month Agropur, Canada's largest dairy cooperative, and Davisco Foods International, a US-based cheese and dairy ingredients company, announced they have entered into an agreement for Agropur to acquire the dairy processing assets of Davisco.

This transaction will double Agropur's US processing operations and will increase its global milk intake by 50%. It will also strengthen its position in the North American and international dairy industries.

"With over US$1 billion in annual sales, this acquisition is by far the largest transaction in Agropur 76 year history," said Serge Riendeau, president of Agropur. "This transaction, combined with the most recent ones in Canada, will increase our sales to over US$5.4 billion on an annualized basis, and we should reach 12.1 billion pounds of milk processed each year in 41 plants across North America. As a result of this acquisition, the US operations of Agropur should reach the top five cheese and ingredients processors in the United States to even better serve its clients."

"The world dairy industry is consolidating at an accelerated pace and our acquisition of Davisco supports our objective of increasing our global presence," said Robert Coallier, CEO, Agropur. "One of our key business objectives is to pursue strategic acquisitions to diversify our geographic markets and product portfolios. This acquisition, like our other recent ones, will help solidify the development and sustainability of our cooperative by securing a favorable strategic positioning at all national, North American and global levels. To remain a leader in our field, we must pursue and continue development efforts that aim directly at profitable growth," Coallier added.