SPAIN: Kraft sells cream cheese unit to Lactalis

By just-food.com | 13 December 2007

Kraft Foods has sold its cream cheese business in Spain to French dairy giant Lactalis.

The sale, for an undisclosed sum, includes the Mama Luise brand and a manufacturing facility in Zamora, a city in the north-west of Spain.

Under the deal, Kraft and Lactalis have agreed that the French firm will take on the 91 jobs at the plant.

The agreement will also see Kraft retain a grated cheese production line, which it will switch to a plant in the Spanish village of Hospital de Órbigo.

A spokesman for Kraft in Spain told just-food today (13 December) that the US food giant no longer saw the Mama Luise as vital to its business in the country.

"Basically it's a small business, which is strong locally but which is not considered strategic," the spokesman said.

Lactalis said the deal strengthens its presence in Spain. The company's business on the Iberian peninsula, Group Lactalis Iberia, generates annual turnover of EUR450m (US$660m) and operates six plants in Spain.

Sectors: Dairy

Companies: Kraft