Brazil: CADE approves sale of Itambé to Groupe Lactalis

Brazilian antitrust authority CADE approved on Monday the sale of dairy company Itambé Alimentos SA to French group Lactalis SA.

The December acquisition has sparked a dispute between Lactalis and Mexico’s Lala SAB de CV (LALAB.MX). Lala took over Vigor Alimentos SA last October, a company which had a 50 percent stake in Itambé. The CCPR producer cooperative, which owned the other 50 percent of Itambe, then exercised its right to buy the remaining half of the dairy company it did not own. After the purchase, CCPR went on to sell Itambé to Lactalis.

Lactalis and Lala are handling the dispute through arbitration. Sources with knowledge of the matter say that Lala accused Lactalis and the CCPR of breaching previous agreements with Vigor to make the deal.

Full Content: Reuters

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