Cheese Plant Sale Benefits Idaho Deal Called ‘Positive Sign’ For Area Operations

The sale of six cheese plants in the Midwest Avonmore Waterford Group may increase the profitability of its Magic Valley cheese operation.

The group has agreed to sell its Wisconsin-based businesses, Waterford Food Products Inc. and Avonmore Cheese Inc., to a Canadian dairy company. Saputo Group Inc. will pay $36 million for the two subsidiaries.

Waterford Foods has three plants in Wisconsin, where it makes Swiss cheese, condensed milk and other products. Avonmore Cheese has two plants in Wisconsin and one in Illinois, manufacturing Italian cheeses and dairy food ingredients.

Avonmore Waterford’s Twin Falls-based Avonmore West Co. runs three plants with almost 400 employees in the Magic Valley. It calls itself the largest cheese producer in the Northwest and will now be the parent company’s only American operation.

Avonmore Waterford has already invested $20 million in its Idaho operation to foster global marketing of advanced dairy ingredients, said Pat O’Neill, Avonmore Waterford managing director.

“The focus on our food ingredients strategy following the establishment of Avonmore Waterford Group is to concentrate on larger scale facilities in Ireland and in Idaho,” he said.

Avonmore West Vice President Jeff Williams called the sale “a real positive sign for what we are doing out here.

“One-hundred-ninety million dollars in sales revenue were sold with the business so that will create more opportunity for us out West and in Idaho.”

In October 1997, the Ireland-based Avonmore Foods announced its merger with Waterford Foods, another major Irish business.

The result was Avonmore Waterford with combined sales of almost $4 billion.