German dairy cooperative DMK Group has signed an agreement for the sale of its Waldfeucht-Haaren ice cream production facility to Schwarz Produktion.

Neither company has divulged any financial details.

DMK Group CEO Ingo Müller said: “We are continuing to build the DMK of the future. Germany’s biggest dairy cooperative, with brands such as Milram, Humana, Uniekaas and Alete, and one of the biggest suppliers to the German food retail industry, should continue to develop into a strongly market and consumer-oriented company.

“And to position ourselves for this in the best possible way, one thing we need to do is to further optimise our own production network. The sale of the Waldfeucht-Haaren site is enabling us to concentrate our ice cream production in two locations. That creates further synergies.”

Schwarz Produktion will acquire the facility, including nearly 200 employees. It will use it to produce its own ice cream products.

Completion of the site acquisition is subject to approval by the regulatory authorities.

The transfer is expected to take place at the beginning of next year.

With this divestment, DMK Group intends to streamline the production of its ice cream business.

DMK Group plans to focus on its ice cream production facilities located in Everswinkel and Prenzlau regions in Germany.

It intends to improve its ice cream production capacity at the site in Everswinkel. It will expand capacity from approximately 65 million litres to nearly 100 million litres.

In September, DMK Group announced its plans to acquire all the assets of DV Nutrition, a joint venture (JV) between DOC Kaas and Volac.