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Friesland Foods and Campina have reached agreement on the merger proposal that will create a new dairy company, FrieslandCampina, and a new dairy cooperative, FrieslandCampina.

The new company will have an annual turnover of around €9.1 billion, putting it among the leading players in the global dairy market.

FrieslandCampina will structure its product groups and regions intofour business groups: Consumer Products Western Europe, ConsumerProducts International, Cheese & Butter and Ingredients.

The merger, reported in dairy innovation issue 15, will be discussedwith farmer members of both cooperatives over the coming weeks atregional meetings, with a formal decision due to be taken on 7 May 2008.

Then the relevant competition authorities, including the European Commission, have to give their approval. It is expected that the EU will report its findings in the final quarter of 2008.

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