Borenius advised Valio Ltd on the sale of its starter culture ingredients business to Chr. Hansen A/S and its related supply, licence and IPR arrangements

We advised Valio Ltd in its sale of the starter culture ingredients business to Chr. Hansen A/S . The sale includes Valio’s ingredient rights, patents and know-how related to the world’s most researched probiotic bacterium, LGG®. The deal price of EUR 73 million includes Valio’s culture manufacturing operation in Finland as well as a collection of over 3000 dairy cultures.

Valio Ltd is a leading Finnish dairy company known globally as a leader in functional foods and unique milk processing technologies. Valio has 13 plants in Finland, two in Estonia and one in Russia. The company’s revenue in 2015 was EUR 1,718 million and the number of employees is about 4 000.

Chr. Hansen A/S was founded in 1874 and is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen. The company has around 2500 dedicated employees in 30 countries. Revenues in the financial year 2014/15 stood at EUR 859 million. The head office is located in Hørsholm, north of Copenhagen.