Weekly Roundup: Lactalis Group to acquire Leerdammer cheese brand from Bel Group

19 Mar 2021 --- This week in industry news, Lactalis Group signed a unilateral promise to purchase a cheese business – the Leerdammer brand – from Bel Group. Nestlé collaborated to develop Australia’s first soft plastic food wrapper made with recycled content. Kudos Blends partnered with Thymly Products to bring healthier solutions to the US market, while Kemin Food Technologies expanded its technical team. Meanwhile, Bunge announced changes to its leadership team, and Heineken’s Pure Piraña hard seltzer brand debuted in Europe.

In brief: Business moves
Lactalis Group signed a unilateral promise to purchase a cheese business – the Leerdammer brand – from Bel Group. The deal includes assets in four countries, including Royal Bel Leerdammer in the Netherlands, Bel Italy, Bel Germany, as well as Bel Shostka in Ukraine. Following the transaction, Lactalis will hold a 0.90 percent stake in Bel. Sicopa, a wholly-owned Bel subsidiary, will transfer said assets to Lactalis in return for 1,591,472 Bel shares (23.16 percent equity stake) held by Lactalis. As of December 31, Leerdammer and Bel Shostka Ukraine revenues were listed at approximately €500 million (US$594.8 million) – of which €350 million (US$416.3 million) were Leerdammer revenues – while operating earnings were approximately €25 million (US$29.7 million). “This deal gives us an opening into the Dutch cheese market and production in Holland via three manufacturing plants,” says Emmanuel Besnier, Lactalis group chairman. “The transfer to us of Bel’s Italian, German and Ukrainian sales subsidiaries will boost our facilities in these countries benefiting both Leerdammer and other Bel product sales on these markets.”

Kudos Blends announced a strategic partnership with Thymly Products for the exclusive distribution of KODA Potassium Bicarbonate across North America. Thymly Products was founded in 1967 by Harry Muller-Thym Sr. to support the growing need for specialized food blends, which was going unmet. Its goal was to supply the best functional ingredients and custom blends that exceed all customer expectations. Today, Thymly Products specializes in formulated bespoke food and bakery blends customized for specific needs.

In brief: Packaging news
Nestlé KitKat’s prototype sustainable wrapper – created by a coalition of companies in Australia – aims to close the loop on recycling soft plastics. Nestlé, CurbCycle, iQ Renew, Licella, Viva Energy Australia, LyondellBasell, REDcycle, Taghleef Industries and Amcor brought their individual expertise together to collect and process soft waste plastic, turn it back into oil, and create a food-grade prototype wrapper. By co-developing a recycled plastic packaging, KitKat in Australia is one of the first movers in this area. This innovation is driven by Nestlé's pledge to reduce its use of virgin plastics by one-third by 2025.

Food-grade recycled soft plastic packaging is a crucial missing link in Australia’s bid to improve waste management and build a circular economy, says Nestlé. In brief: Sustainability 
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a Federal Register Notice requesting public input on a climate-smart agriculture and forestry strategy. The Notice represents an important step toward implementing President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The Order states that America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have an essential role in combating the climate crisis and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by sequestering carbon in soils, grasses, trees and other vegetation and sourcing sustainable bioproducts and fuels. 

In brief: Appointments & retirements
Bunge has announced that Raul Padilla, president of global operations, plans to retire at the end of this year. His operational responsibilities will be distributed internally over the coming months. Responsibilities for external relationships within South America will transition to Julio Garros, who brings 19 years of experience with Bunge in Finance, Commercial and Business Development roles across South America and most recently held the position of Global Transformation Leader for Agribusiness. Padilla, who has served as president, Global Operations since May 2019, boasts over 20 years of service with Bunge. 

Kemin Industries has announced two new members to the technical team for Kemin Food Technologies – Americas. Daiki Murayama has joined the business unit as associate scientist and Michael Cropp has joined as technical services associate. 

In brief: Other highlightsFollowing the launch of Pure Piraña in New Zealand and Mexico with positive results last year, Heineken is excited to be extending the brand to Europe.
Pure Piraña, Heineken’s global hard seltzer brand, is expanding into Europe. Following the launch in Mexico and New Zealand last year, Pure Piraña is poised to dive into the European summer to meet consumer demand across the region, says the company. The hard seltzer will be available in Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, with other markets such as the UK joining the hard seltzer trend throughout the year and into 2022.

To support Diageo North America’s growth strategy in the ready-to-drink (RTD) category, the company has revealed plans to expand its manufacturing footprint and install two can lines at a new facility in Plainfield, Illinois. With an investment of approximately US$80 million, the site will have the capacity to produce over 25 million cases of RTDs per year, including Smirnoff seltzers and the newly launched spirits-based RTD cocktails from Crown Royal and Ketel One Botanicals. 

KFC’s global CEO Tony Lowings, Co-op Food CEO Jo Whitfield and 2 Sisters Food Group founder Ranjit Singh will all speak at this year’s Meat Business Women UK & Ireland conference in May. Also speaking at the event will be Heidi Robertson, corporate head of diversity and inclusion and employer brand at ABB, and Gerry Maguire, managing director of Linden Foods. Marks & Spencer’s Katharine Haenelt, head of trading for meat, fish, poultry, deli, dairy and bakery, will chair a roundtable debate of meat processor CEOs. The theme of this year’s conference, which takes place virtually on May 26, 2021, is “transformation.”

By Elizabeth Green