Danone buys WhiteWave

The food corporation Danone intends to take over the US American manufacturer WhiteWave . Both companies expect the sale to be concluded by the end of the year, provided they have the agreement of the authorities. Horizon Organic, the biggest organic dairy in the USA, belongs to WhiteWave.  Also belonging to the WhiteWave imperium are Silk, an important American manufacturer of milk substitute products, and Alpro and its brand Provamel, the market leader for soya milk in Europe.   

The two companies announced that Danone has offered WhiteWave shareholders 56.25 US dollars a share, which is 24 % above the average share price over the last 30 days. Including debt, that is being taken over by Danone, the French are paying 12.5 billion dollars for WhiteWave.  For 2015, the US company reported a rise in turnover of 13 % to nearly 4 billion dollars and a net profit of 168 million dollars.

In 2012, the US corporation Dean Foods concentrated its organic and milk substitute activities in the firm Whitewave and it was floated on the stockmarket. The most important component of the corporation is Horizon Organic. With the mutally agreed takeover, Danone is strengthening its position in the US market and in the organic milk sector and, at the same time, it is extending its activities to milk substitute products. On the stock market, the news caused the Danone share price to rise sharply by more than 6 %  for a time.

The French Danone Group, with turnover of  22 billion euros in 2015, is one of the biggest food corporations in the world. It focuses on fresh dairy products (Actimel, Gervais), bottled water (Evian, Volvic) and baby food (Milupa).