Global agricultural business AB Foods has announced it will acquire dairy technology firm National Milk Records (NMR) for £48 million.
AB Foods, which operates in 80 countries, said that Chippenham-based NMR’s expertise in the dairy sector would help boost its business.
NMR is listed on the Aquis Stock Exchange for smaller firms, providing milk recording and testing services to more than 3,000 farms every month.
It also offers milk payment testing services to the majority of the UK’s milk processors and provides disease testing for individual animals and whole herd analysis through its labs.
AB Foods, which works with 2,000 UK dairy farmers, added that such data and technology platforms would help farmers become more profitable.
The firm has agreed to pay 215p a share for NMR, with backing for the deal already from investors holding around 69% of shares, which is close to the 75% threshold needed to approve the deal.
Jose Nobre, chief executive of AB Agri said: "NMR is a high-quality business which is extremely complementary and additive to our dairy strategy and offering to the dairy industry.
"We have supported dairy farmers for more than 30 years with nutrition and specialty feed products, and more recently with data and technology platforms which deliver insights that create continuous improvement in agricultural supply chains.
“Acquiring NMR is an extension of this strategy and will enable us to service the industry better, offering products that deliver increased value, efficiency and ultimately profitability for dairy farmers.
"NMR has assembled a strong team and we are excited by the prospect of working together with them to accelerate the development of the business.”
Trevor Lloyd, chairman of NMR, added: "ABF's status within the UK agricultural sector and expertise in the dairy industry will provide a significant benefit to NMR's customers.
"As the UK dairy supply chain continues its drive to carbon neutrality, NMR's work with GenoCells and milk data, and our pivotal role in payment testing, will contribute important information to aid in this transition.
"The NMR team looks forward to working as part of ABF and AB Agri to further position NMR as a leading player at the centre of the UK dairy industry."
