French dairy group Sodiaal is being provided with a EUR40m (US$45.6m) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund its research and development programme, which will focus on infant nutrition, processing and packaging.

Sodiaal is investing a total of EUR80m in the project running from 2018 to 2021, with EIB contributing a portion of that.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Jorge Boucas, the chief executive of Sodiaal, said the funds will support its R&D in the “functionalisation of dairy components, processing technologies and new modes of food packaging, while strengthening its cooperation with public and private research institutes”, as well as infant nutrition. The centre is located in Rennes, Brittany.

“This funding illustrates our desire to focus on upgrading our product mix, in line with our ‘#Value’ strategic transformation plan,” said Boucas. It will enable us to develop our research and development activities for our European and global markets and will support in particular the development of our new research centre.”

Sodiaal claims to be the leading dairy cooperative in France and the third largest in Europe, producing milk, cream, butter, cheese, dairy ingredients and specialised nutrition products. It has 20,000 farmer members and processes 4.7 billion litres of milk from 70 domestic plants. 

See Also:

Sodiaal expanded its global presence in the infant-formula market when it entered an agreement to acquire part of China’s Synutra last August under its Value objectives.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Late in 2017, Sodiaal unveiled #Value, which will focus on making the business more upmarket and generating organic growth of EUR500m between 2017 and 2025, as well as boosting the share of sales its international markets make to 35% from 29%.