Milk Link largest cheesemaker with the acquisition of the Llandyrnog Creamery

Milk Link’s acquisition of the Llandyrnog cheese creamery in North Wales, for an undisclosed sum with it’s capacity to produce 25,000 tonnes of Cheddar per annum will bring Milk Link’s total cheese making capacity to just over 90,000 tonnes making them the biggest UK cheese maker.

The creamery with over 160 employees is a large employer in the region. The purchase by Milk Link, from the receivers of Dairy Farmers of Britain Ltd, means those jobs have been preserved and livelihoods safeguarded for the hundreds of supplying dairy farmers in the area.

The acquisition was prepared by the 15 strong team from Burges Salmon led by Alan Barr, which included specialists on insolvency, property, employment, tax, environmental as well as experts from the firm’s dairy industry unit, worked to a very tight deadline with the Milk Link team to achieve completion in just three days. A specialist team of six banking lawyers led by Sandra Forbes agreed the terms for the requisite bank finance in just over forty eight hours.

Alan Barr from Burges Salmon commented: "It was a real high point to be able to react quickly to secure this opportunity for our long standing client Milk Link. Working round the clock on a tight timescale with such efficiency is a credit to the strength of the working relationship between Milk Link and this firm"

Commenting on the transaction, Neil Kennedy Milk Link’s Chief Executive said: "The acquisition of Llandyrnog is another positive development for Milk Link and reinforces our leadership of the British cheese market. The creamery in terms of its assets and staff, the products and brands it produces, and its customer base are of good quality and we believe that it will be an important contributor to our value added processing business."