Companies

Farmers revive €360m deal to acquire Kerry Group’s dairy arm

Original talks ended in acrimony after a rift developed within the board of the co-op over the valuation of the company and how it proposed to fund the transaction

Edmond Scanlon: the chief executive of Kerry Group told investors last year the company was still ‘open-minded’ about selling the dairy business. Picture: Bryan Meade

Kerry Co-op, the farmer-controlled investment company, has revived a potential €360 million deal to acquire a majority stake in Kerry Group’s legacy dairy business, the Business Post has learned.

Sources close to the Tralee-based co-op said negotiations around a potential deal had restarted in the last week after a previous attempt to buy Kerry Group’s dairy processing and consumer foods business in Ireland collapsed in April 2021.

With annual sales of around €1.3 billion and ...