Arla becomes Europe’s runner-up after German acquisition

Scandinavian dairy giant Arla Foods is joining forces with Germany’s largest milk processor, DMK Group, to create the second largest dairy producer in Europe.

New runner-up

If the acquisition (officially a merger) is approved by both companies’ Boards of Representatives and by the competition authorities, the resulting company will group 12,000 farmers and earn a turnover of 19 billion euros. This would make Arla the new number two of the European dairy industry, second only to French Lactalis.

With a turnover of 13.8 billion euros, Arla clearly has the upper hand in the deal: it is therefore no surprise that the resulting company will simply be named Arla, with head officec in Viby, Denmark. Moreover, Arla’s current CEO and Chairman of Arla Foods (Peder Tuborgh and Jan Toft Nørgaard, respectively) will remain in their roles. DMK CEO Ingo Müller was asked to join Arla’s management to lead DMK’s integration.

The dairy producers are joining forces to anticipate the expected decline in the European milk market. They hope that their joined “more diversified product portfolios and market positions” would mean they also gain resilience, Lebensmittel Zeitung reports. Approval from the competition authorities is expected at the end of 2025. The move is still 25 % bigger than last year’s mega milk merger between Dutch FrieslandCampina and the Belgian Milcobel.