Canadian multinational Saputo has agreed to sell its UK cheese business, including Cathedral City cheddar and the Wensledyale Creamery in Hawes, to French dairy giant Lactalis in a £988m deal.
The business, which turned over around £885m in the past year and includes brands such as Davidstow Cheddar, Clover and Country Life, will make Lactalis the largest cheese brand producer in the UK. Around 1,300 people are employed in the division across five sites: Hawes, Yorkshire; Davidstow, Cornwall; Nuneaton, Warwickshire; Kirkby, Merseyside; and the Isle of Bute in Scotland.
Cathedral City is the UK’s largest cheddar brand, worth £320m a year in sales, but the deal also includes speciality cheeses, such as Yorkshire Wensleydale PGI, Kit Calvert clothbound Wensleydale and Fountain Cheddar, made at the Hawes creamery. Saputo acquired the Wensleydale Creamery in 2021 in a £23m deal and rebranded the Yorkshire Wensleydale range in 2023. It closed the company’s cutting and packing site in Kirkby Malzeard last year, transferring operations to Nuneaton, affecting around 80 jobs.
Lactalis, which is privately owned by the Besnier family, owns global cheese brands such as President, Galbani and Leerdammer. Its existing UK operation comprises Orkney Cheddar PGI in Kirkwall, Seriously Cheddar in Stranraer and Cricket St Thomas soft cheeses in Somerset.
Emmanuel Besnier, chairman of Lactalis, said the acquisition marked a milestone in Lactalis’ development in the UK. “By welcoming famous brands and recognised expertise into the group, we are strengthening our position in the UK market and reaffirming our commitment to providing consumers with high-quality dairy products.”
Saputo said the deal would enable it to “deploy capital for organic investments, capital projects, and strategic acquisitions.
This article first appeared in the September issue of Fine Food Digest.
