Norton Rose Fulbright Advises on Sale of Leading Dairy Company in West Africa

Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the owners of Fan Milk International A/S (FMI), a Danish dairy company in relation to the sale of FMI to the Abraaj Group, a Dubai buyout firm managing $7.5 billion of assets.

FMI, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes a range of frozen dairy products and juices across West Africa. The company, originally set up by a Danish family in the 1950s, has operations in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Benin. In Ghana, it owns a 56.6 per cent stake in listed company Fan Milk Ltd, which has a market value of $337 million.

Bayo Odubeko, Corporate Partner led on the transaction, he comments:

“We are delighted to have advised on this significant transaction involving a highly competitive auction process. This is a landmark transaction for the continent and is indicative of the significant demand for consumer businesses of scale in Africa.”

The Norton Rose Fulbright team also included Julie Keefe, Matt Watkins and Jaycen Liao.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted for Abraaj.

www.nortonrosefulbright.com