DMK Group to sell site as it restructures ice cream business
Schwarz Produktion, which brings the production companies of the Schwarz Group (Lidl and Kaufland) under one roof, will take over the site in North Rhine-Westphalia for its own ice cream production, subject to the antitrust review.
The move comes as DMK said it intends to streamline its production network in the ice cream business unit.
A corresponding purchase agreement was signed by both parties on January 28, 2020. Schwarz Produktion will completely take over the Waldfeucht-Haaren site, including its approximately 200 employees. The transfer is planned for the beginning of 2021.
Ingo Müller, CEO of the DMK Group, said, "We are continuing to build the DMK of the future. Germany’s biggest dairy cooperative, with brands such as Milram, Humana, Uniekaas and Alete, and one of the biggest suppliers to the German food retail industry, should continue to develop into a strongly market- & consumer-oriented company. And to position ourselves for this in the best possible way, one thing we need to do is to further optimise our own production network.”
The DMK Group said it now plans to focus its ice cream production on the Everswinkel and Prenzlau sites. DMK wants to increase production capacity at the existing site in Everswinkel from the current approximately 65m liters of ice cream to around 100m liters in the future.
“The sale of the Waldfeucht-Haaren site is enabling us to concentrate our ice cream production in two locations. That creates further synergies,” Müller said.
Information about the purchase price was not be disclosed.
