DFA to acquire significant portion of Dean Foods operations for $433m

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) has been named as the winning bidder to acquire a significant portion of Dean Foods’ operations in a court-supervised sale process.

The sale is part of bankrupt milk producer Dean Foods’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

Subject to final approval by the Bankruptcy Court, DFA will acquire assets, rights, interests and properties related to 44 Dean Foods’ fluid and frozen facilities for $433m.

Dean Foods president and CEO Eric Beringause said: “We ran a competitive auction process and are pleased to have reached these agreements, which we believe represent the best path forward for our stakeholders.

“Dean Foods has strong and long-standing relationships with DFA and Prairie Farms Dairy. We are pleased that through these transactions, substantially all of our processing assets will continue to operate as dairies and will be owned by our dairy farmer partners with the resources, experience and industry expertise to continue to succeed in the current market environment.

“We are committed to completing these transactions as quickly as possible, and to ensuring a smooth transition for our customers.”

Prairie Farms Dairy also won the bid to buy Dean Foods’ eight additional facilities and two distribution branches, as well as certain other assets for $75m in cash.

As part of the sale process, Dean Foods will sell its facilities in Miami, Florida, and Reno, Nevada, to Mana Saves McArthur and Producers Dairy Foods.

In addition, Harmoni has been selected as the winning bidder for Uncle Matt’s business.

Beringause added: “I want to thank all Dean Foods employees for their continued commitment to our customers and our company throughout this process. I know we can count on them to continue to deliver the high-quality dairy products our customers rely on as we work to close these transactions.”