Klaus Wiese acquires dairy drink brand
part of its takeover of Nutricia's dairy unit has been sold to
Germany's Klaus Wiese group for an undisclosed sum.
Dutch company Friesland Coberco Dairy Foods is to sell its German-based dairy drink brand DrinkFit to the Klaus Weise company for an undisclosed sum.
The business, which was acquired by Friesland Coberco as part of its takeover of the Nutricia Dairy & Drinks Group in January 2002, has never been seen as a core part of Friesland Coberco's business, and the company announced in June last year that it was looking for a potential buyer.
Wiese will take control of the DrinkFit business, which includes a variety of milk and yoghurt drinks, as of 1 July 2003, along with a dairy facility in Schlüchtern, the company's client base and milk supply agreements and its 120 employees. The DrinkFit brand is said to fit more appropriately with Wiese's existing German dairy operations.
Friesland Coberco also owns Friesland Deutschland, which produces long-life dairy products for the European market using milk supplied by Dutch dairy farmers. This company does form part of Friesland Coberco's core activities and will therefore remain part of the group, it stressed.
Friesland Coberco Dairy Foods develops, produces and sells a wide range of branded dairy products and fruit-based drinks with a major presence in western Europe, Central Europe, West Africa and southeast Asia in particular.
The company last year posted sales of €4.7 billion from brands such as Appelsientje, Bonnet, Chocomel, CoolBest, Completa, Debic, DubbelFrisss, Dutch Lady, Extran, Frico, Frisocare, Foremost, Friesche Vlag, Frisian Flag, Fristi, Milli, Peak, Pöttyös Túró Rudi, Rainbow, Taksi and Yo-Most.
