Royal A-ware, the Dutch dairy group, has agreed to acquire a 35% stake in local goat cheese producer Amalthea from the parent company Ausnutria Dairy.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Under the partnership, Royal A-ware will manage domestic and international marketing for goat’s cheese and organic goat’s cheese.

Ausnutria will retain a majority holding of 65% and focus on processing whey protein for infant formula.

In a joint statement issued yesterday (14 July), the companies said the agreement “strengthens Amalthea’s position in the goat dairy market and lays a solid foundation for future growth and innovation”.

Both sides plan to co-invest in the continued development of Amalthea’s cheese plant in Rijen in the south of the Netherlands.

“This collaboration fits seamlessly with our strategic direction and contributes to a future-proof goat dairy supply chain,” said Bart van der Meer, the executive director of Ausnutria.

Ausnutria is the Hong Kong-listed investment holding company of the co-op Ausnutria BV and primarily serves the Chinese market from manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands.

Jan Anker, the chairman of the board at Royal A-ware, said the “partnership aligns well with our strategy towards more integrated supply chains, where market demand is the starting point: here too, we are creating the shortest route from consumer to farm”.

In 2022, Ausnutria agreed to pay €18.4m (then $18.3m) for an initial 50% stake in the Amalthea business.

Two years later, the company exercised options to acquire the remaining 50% from Dairy Goat Holding (DGH) for €22.1m, giving it full ownership of the cheese cooperative.

Amalthea owns the CleardMilk manufacturing trademark, which it uses for its own branded goat’s cheese, along with organic cow’s cheese. It also produces private-label dairy products including yogurt.

Meanwhile, Royal A-ware makes dairy products such as cheese, butter and yogurt for retail, foodservice and food manufacturers.

It has more than 5,300 employees across sites in Europe and other markets and reported a turnover of €4.4bn in 2025.

Earlier this month, Royal A-ware struck a deal for Spanish cheese producer and distributor Grupo TGT.

That deal built on the family-owned company’s February acquisition of Spanish distributor Global Dairy Ventures (GDV) from Abac Capital.