The announcement that Lactalis has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the UK business of Saputo is the latest in a long line of deals for the world’s largest dairy company.

While many people might not be familiar with Canadian processor Sabuto’s UK operations, there are many household names in the deal valued at around £988m (€1.15bn).

Cathedral City, the UK’s most popular cheddar brand, and the geographic-origin protected Yorkshire Wensleydale are part of the deal.

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Country Life butter and the Clover and Utterly Butterly spread brands are also included.

The operation is across five sites in the UK and employs 1,300 people. Before it was acquired by Saputo in 2019 the business traded under the Dairy Crest name.

The purchase by Lactalis, which is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2027, is a latest in a long line of acquisitions by the privately-owned French dairy giant.

Most recent available financial data for the company showed that it had revenue of €31.2 billion and net income of €528 million in 2025.

The company is the world’s largest dairy group, the number 1 in global cheese and has 266 plants across 49 countries processing over 23 billion litres of milk. It employs more than 85,000 people across its businesses.

The 2025 results do not include the uplift to annual revenue that the company will get from the purchase of Fonterra’s consumer brands.

That deal completed in March 2026, with Lactalis paying NZD$4.22bn (€2.14bn) for the business which serves consumers in Oceania, Asia and the Middle East. It had revenue of NZD$4.9bn (€2.5bn) in 2024.

Also this year, Lactalis has purchased a Canadian cheese business, a Swedish maker of chilled fruit drinks, and expanded its footprint in the protein market with the acquisition of Liverpool-based Protein Works which sells shakes, meal replacements, supplements and snacks directly to consumers.

In 2025 it completed the purchase of General Mills’ US yoghurt business, which includes the Yoplait brand.

Lactalis, founded in 1933 by the André Besnier, is still majority owned by the Besnier family and Emmanuel Besnier, grandson of the founder, is currently CEO of the company. It has doubled the value of its sales since 2015, with much of that growth driven through acquisitions.