Fonterra Co-operative Group, a company that exports dairy from New Zealand, said on Friday that it was selling its Soprole dairy operations in Chile to the Peruvian company Gloria Foods in a series of deals worth about $641.42 million.
The sale is part of Fonterra’s new plan to focus on growing its business in New Zealand while phasing out its overseas milk pools and paying down debt.
The process to split off its Chilean operations, Soprole, started in April of this year and will be done through “a number of transactions” that include selling shares in a Fonterra holding company, the dairy exporter said.
Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell said in a statement, “Soprole is a very good business, but it doesn’t depend on New Zealand milk or expertise.”
“We have decided to sell Soprole to Gloria Foods and have finished the process of divesting.”
In a statement to Peru’s securities regulator, Gloria said that the deal was real. The company said that the deal would be paid for with $210 million in cash and some amount of debt payments that were not said.
The deal depends on regulatory approval and the start of a tender process in Chile for the shares of Soprole that Fonterra does not already own.
($1 = 921.5000 Chilean pesos)
