Connacht Gold boosts milk pool with €13.5m deal

CONNACHT Gold Co-op has boosted its milk pool to 370 million litres by acquiring Donegal Creameries’ milk and retail store businesses for €13.5m, ending months of stop-start negotiations.

Sligo-based Connacht Gold has bought Donegal’s 120m litres milk pool, the liquid milk processing facility at Killygordon and 11 retail stores — nine in Donegal and two in Northern Ireland.

Connacht Gold chairman Padraig Gibbons said the deal is of major strategic importance and is a big step towards consolidating the co-op’s consumer foods, dairy ingredients and retail stores businesses.