Emmi’s Spanish subsidiary, Kaiku Corporación Alimentaria, has revealed plans to increase its stake in Chilean dairy company Surlat from 60% to between 85% and 95%.
According to Emmi, the deal represents an investment in a company that is well positioned in the dairy industry, holding the number two position in lactose-free products and being the leading producer of UHT milk in Chile. It also said that Chile was a “high-growth” market, and the acquisition of further shares in Surlat was “a further step towards the international growth objective” of the Swiss-headquartered business.
Emmi’s strategy is to increase the share of sales in its international business from its current level of 44% to around 50% in the medium term. This growth is to be achieved organically and through acquisitions, with growth markets outside of Europe becoming increasingly important, it said.
Kaiku will increase its stake in Surlat from 60% to “a bandwidth of 85% to 95%”. As a result, Emmi, which has a 73% stake in Kaiku, will have a holding in Surlat amounting to between 62% and 70%.
Surlat is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.
Kaiku acquired the 40% share package from Lacteos Surlat, a company of milk suppliers, and will sell between 2% and 12% of shares back to interested individual shareholders – mainly current milk suppliers to Surlat.
Emmi CEO Urs Riedener said: “Increasing its stake in Surlat enables Emmi to strengthen its base in South America. Chile is a market with good growth potential in the dairy industry.”
Last year, Emmi increased its share capital in Kaiku by €10m. The restructuring reaffirmed Emmi’s “commitment to a growth-oriented company with strong market positions”, although Basque investment company Ekarpen’s €6m stake in Kaiku reduced Emmi’s overall stake from 76.1% to 73.5%.
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