Dean Foods completes sale of Morningstar Foods division

By: Michelle Russell - 4 January 2013 15:01

US dairy giant Dean Foods yesterday (3 January) confirmed the completion of the sale of its Morningstar Foods division to Saputo, a deal valued at US$1.45bn.

The acquisition by Saputo, which had been rumoured in November before being confirmed last month, will realise around $887m in proceeds for Dean Foods, which the company has said it will use to pay down debt and increase its financial flexibility.

The company had said it was considering the sale of the business, a producer of creams and cultured dairy products for foodservice and own-label firms, back in September. The unit was rumoured at the time to have mostly attracted interest from private-equity firms.

The news follows Dean Foods move to spin off part of its WhiteWave-Alpro business, a unit that manufactures brands including Alpro and Silk soy milk. The company had planned to raise up to $320m from the IPO, which was announced in August, but shares slid on their debut on the New York stock exchange in October.