Rīgas Piensaimnieks will be legally merged with Rīgas piena kombināts

As the development of Center of Excellence for Fresh Dairy at AS Rīgas piena kombināts is continuing, Food Union, a group of Latvia’s leading dairy companies, announces the commencement of legal merger of SIA Rīgas Piensaimnieks with AS Rīgas piena kombināts. The objective of the Center of Excellence is to combine knowledge and technology in one place to increase Food Union Group’s production capacity in Latvia, expand its product range, and strengthen market positions of the brands.

“The establishment of a Center of Excellence for fresh dairy products is perhaps the most complex processes of change in the history of Food Union, consisting of the planning and management of a range of technological, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, human resources and legal issues. We have a strong team leading the process so that in less than a year and a half we can finally be able to say that the Center for Excellence for fresh dairy products is complete, our staff can say that they are working in a state-of-the-art dairy production facility and our consumers will be able to enjoy new, top quality and healthy dairy products,’’ explains Normunds Staņēvičs, CEO Food Union in Europe.

The legal consolidation of SIA Rīgas Piensaimnieks with AS Rīgas piena kombināts is one of the strategic steps in the development of the Center of Excellence. During the consolidation, the two companies will be reorganized along with centralization of production and consolidation of the two companies’ workforce. The reorganization process commenced on September 24 and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2020. Upon completion of the reorganization, all obligations and rights of SIA Rīgas Piensaimnieks will be taken over by AS Rīgas piena kombināts, in accordance with the legal requirements and mutual agreements with the partners.

At the moment, development of the Center of Excellence is at the halfway point, that is, a new production facility for drinking yogurts has been set up in the territory of AS Rīgas piena kombināts, as well as a separate production facility and two new Kārums curd cheese production facilities. Moving production equipment from SIA Rīgas Piensaimnieks and merger of the two companies’ teams is to be completed by end-2020, therefore production of fresh dairy products and ice cream will be both concentrated in one place. In total, EUR 11.1 million is to be invested in the development of the Center of Excellence.