Caen, France—Agrial, a French farming and food cooperative, is preparing to acquire the German company Rotkappchen Peter Julich Group, which specializes in cow’s and goat’s milk cheeses.

The acquisition is expected to become final in January 2019.

A family-owned German-based company in Dortmund, Rotkappchen Peter Julich specializes in the manufacture and sale of branded cheeses. According to Agrial, its three main brands enjoy significant presence on the retail market: Rotkappchen and Rugener Badejunge are two soft cow’s milk cheeses while Der Grune Altenburger is the number one goat’s cheese in Germany.

Rotkappchen Peter Julich Group has 138 employees and a large sales team (25 sales representatives covering all of Germany), an industrial site in Lumpzig (near Leipzig), and it posted consolidated sales of 40 million euros in 2017.

“This investment in Germany is directly in phase with our projects in Italy and Spain, bolstering our international development first and foremost with a stronger presence in Europe,” said Olivier Athimon, CEO of Eurial, Agrial’s dairy division. “Finding a partner who is present on the cow’s and goat’s cheese markets is a real advantage for Eurial’s development.”

“Selling our family-owned company to Agrial, whose cooperative values are very close to ours, would be an important guarantee for the longevity of the company and the future of our employees,” said Peter Julich, owner of Rotkappchen Peter Julich Group.

“Our aim is to be less dependent on the global commodities markets by strengthening the weight of our brands and our international business,” said Pascal Le Brun, president of the Agrial organization.

Eurial processes milk from 3,800 regular cow’s milk farmers, 600 goat’s milk farmers and 250 organic cow’s milk farmers. With 24 industrial sites and four outside France, Eurial is, among other things, a European leader on the goat’s cheese market with its Soignon brand and number one in Mozzarella for industrial use in France with its Maestrella brand.