Michael Hanley _ Group CEO _ Lakeland Dairies 074 B.jpg

Lakeland's shareholders give approval for merger

The shareholders of Lakeland Dairies voted in favour of the proposed merger with rival LacPatrick, at a e Special General Meeting of the food ingredient business in The Hotel Kilmore yesterday evening.

There was overwhelming support for the merging of the two companies at both SGMs. This will see the combined entity the second-largest dairy processor in the country. Shareholders at Lakeland Dairies have voted in favour of the motion with a majority of over 97%, while earlier in the day LacPatrick shareholders backed the merger by 96%.

The vote was reached by majority decision yesterday [Tuesday, October 23] after a large turnouts at two separate Special General Meetings. The Cavan vote was conducted by Lakeland Dairies at Hotel Kilmore in Cavan, while the LacPatrick Dairies held their vote in Cookstown, Tyrone.

Three resolutions were put before shareholders; they were for full approval of the proposed merger; secondly to accept the issuing of bonus shares; and finally to support an amendment to the current Lakeland rules to maintain the “existing representative structure” until the merger is completed.

The deal will see the proportion of shareholdings in the new society at 73% by Lakeland, and 27% by LacPatrick, and the Lakeland brand being retained.

It is the biggest merger in the region since Lakeland was formed following the merger of Killeshandra and Bailieborough co-ops.

The businesses will unite to become the second largest dairy processor on the island of Ireland with over 3,200 milk suppliers and a collective milk pool of some 1.8bn litres.

The new society will have a combined annual turnover in excess of €1bn capable of “creating internationally competitive scale while ensuring efficient costs of operation”.

The merger was described to shareholders as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” by Lakeland chairman Alo Duffy. Michael Hanley, CEO of Lakeland Dairies will be appointed as the newly merged group's CEO.

The merger process is expected to be completed by early 2019, subject to regulatory approval.