NEW YORK, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — Rabobank, the leading financial services provider to the global food and agribusiness industry, is pleased to announce that it recently served as exclusive financial advisor to Alto Dairy Cooperative in the sale of Alto Dairy’s cheese business to Saputo Cheese USA Inc. (the “Transaction”). The Transaction was announced Tuesday, January 29, 2008 and closed Tuesday, April 1, 2008.
The Transaction was executed by the New York-based Mergers and Acquisitions Advisory group of Rabobank International, a division of Rabobank Nederland.
Alto Dairy Cooperative, based in Waupun, Wisconsin, is one of the largest Italian-style (Mozzarella and Provolone) and American-style (Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Colby Jack) cheese manufacturers in the U.S., with sales for fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, of $378 million. In representing Alto Dairy Cooperative, Rabobank orchestrated a highly competitive auction process that enabled the seller to achieve total transaction consideration of $160 million.
Rabobank (www.Rabobank.com) is the premier bank to the global food, beverage and agribusiness industries, providing a full array of credit, capital markets and M&A advisory services and products to the industry’s leading companies worldwide. Within the global M&A arena, Rabobank has a significant financial sponsors practice, in particular working with financial sponsors in the food, beverage and consumer sectors on both the buy and sell sides. From its century-old roots as a Dutch farmers’ cooperative, Rabobank has grown into the world’s 25th largest bank with assets in excess of USD 800 billion, operations in 37 countries, and 56,000 employees. Rabobank has a triple A credit rating from both Standard & Poor’s (AAA) and Moody’s Investors Service (Aaa).
Source: Rabobank
CONTACT: Emmanuel Durand, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions for the
Americas, +1-212-916-7858, emmanuel.durand@rabobank.com
Web site: http://www.rabobank.com/
