Arla Meals Elements has agreed a cope with dairy enterprise Volac to take over its whey vitamin division and switch the Welsh manufacturing unit into a world manufacturing hub.
Volac – a family-owned enterprise based in 1970 – specialises in turning whey into components for sports activities vitamin, with byproducts bought for meals and animal vitamin.
Arla Meals Elements stated the acquisition would play “a big function” in its future plans and added it envisioned the Felinfach whey processing facility as a world manufacturing hub and “a cornerstone of an enhanced product providing within the efficiency, well being and meals sectors”.
The group, which is headquartered in Denmark and is a 100%-owned subsidiary of Arla Meals, signed an settlement to amass the whey vitamin division by way of a purchase order of the shares in Volac Whey Vitamin Holdings Ltd and subsidiaries Volac Whey Vitamin Ltd and Volac Renewable Vitality Ltd. Completion of the transaction is anticipated later this yr, topic to required regulatory approvals.
Luis Cubel, group vp and managing director of Arla Meals Elements, stated: “This brings collectively two complementary choices in a rising and more and more worldwide house for whey merchandise.
“Volac is a pioneer in using whey protein for efficiency vitamin and has a wealth of experience in addition to an extremely proficient group. It shares our dedication to serving to corporations worldwide harness the complete potential of whey, and we’re massively excited in regards to the alternatives that lie forward.”
Volac added the deal represented “a logical step” in its evolution as a household enterprise and stated it offered the springboard for the “optimum growth” of the whey vitamin enterprise, in addition to its remaining animal vitamin enterprise.
“Whey processing began on the Felinfach website greater than three many years in the past, and we couldn’t be prouder of every little thing that’s been achieved by everybody concerned within the enterprise since then,” James Neville, joint proprietor of Volac, stated on behalf of the Neville household.
“When contemplating the way forward for Volac Whey Vitamin and the alternatives that lie forward for that enterprise, it was essential for us to decide on a companion with the appropriate values and experience. Arla Meals Elements has the ambition and the information to take the enterprise to the following stage.”
Volac Whey Vitamin’s portfolio contains the Volactive vary, whereas Arla Meals Elements makes the Lacprodan vary of sports activities vitamin merchandise together with RTDs, powder shakes and protein bars.
The worldwide sports activities vitamin trade has grown at a CAGR of 9% since 2010 and is projected to be price $42bn by 2028, in contrast with $28bn in 2023, in line with Euromonitor.
Volac was suggested by Houlihan Lokey, Ashurst, PwC and OCC, whereas Arla Meals Elements labored with Norton Rose Fulbright and EY.