DLA Piper advises world’s largest dairy business

Global law firm DLA Piper has advised the world’s largest dairy business, French-headquartered Lactalis Group, on the acquisition of the Australian-based yoghurt maker, Jalna Dairy Foods.

“We were delighted to advise Lactalis Group on the purchase, which further bolsters their regional footprint with this admired Australian brand,” said Jyoti Singh, Partner, DLA Piper

The Jalna Dairy business comprised Jalna Dairy Foods Pty Ltd, Jalplas Pty Ltd, parcels of real estate in Victoria and other business assets.

Jalna Dairy Foods is one of Australia’s largest yoghurt producers and recognised for their innovation and new product development.

The deal team was led by a cross border team of Melbourne-based Jyoti Singh (Partner) and Sarmad Haidar (Paris) who was assisted by a cross practice team of Eddie Ahn (Partner), Onno Bakker (Partner), Nicholas Boyle (Partner), Sallie Bowtell (Partner), Jessie Buchan (Partner), Rick Catanzariti (Partner), Natalie Caton (Partner), Rhys Davies (Partner), Andrew Fisken (Partner), Sarah Fountain (Partner), Fleur Gibbons (Partner), Stephanie Lambert (Partner), Lionel Meehan (Partner), James Morse (Partner), Alex Regan (Partner), Jonathan Stafford (Partner), Amelia Clarke (Special Counsel), Sarah Wilson (Special Counsel), James Andrews (Senior Associate), Jun Au (Senior Associate), Nicole Breschkin (Senior Associate), Elizabeth Cole (Senior Associate), Claire Kermond (Senior Associate), Winnie Liang (Senior Associate), Clancy O'Donovan (Senior Associate), Kathryn Randle (Senior Associate), Kimberley Chee (Solicitor), Daisy Eales (Solicitor), Ben Hall (Solicitor), Pippa Harley (Solicitor), Mariko Hunt (Solicitor), Basil Joseph (Solicitor), Davina Khoo (Solicitor), Joanne Lim (Solicitor), Dylan Somers (Solicitor), Peter Rashleigh (Consultant), Valerie Polovinkina (Senior Legal Project Manager), Annie George (Trademark Paralegal), and Hazel Pang (Graduate).

“The transaction demonstrates our expertise in multi-jurisdictional and cross-practice deal-making in the consumer goods sector,” Jyoti added.

This matter follows several recent activity in the consumer goods sector where DLA Piper has acted as legal adviser to Refresco Group B.V on its acquisition of one of Australia’s leading manufacturers of non-alcoholic beverages, Asahi Holdings (Australia) Pty Limited on the acquisition of 100% of the issued shares and options from the founders of StrangeLove Beverage Company Pty Limited and StrangeLove IP Licensing Pty Limited; the sale of Dairy Farms Partnership’s dairy farm assets to WHL Capital Limited for NZ$19M; and last year’s ASX listing of Cobram Estate Olives Limited.

For the 12th consecutive year, DLA Piper was the highest-ranked legal advisor in the world for M&A deal volume, according to Mergermarket's league tables. The firm was involved in 1,104 transactions worldwide in 2021, valued at approximately USD242 billion.