Glanbia unveils €27.1m overseas investment plan

Food company Glanbia is to invest a total of €27.1m in its joint venture consumer foods business in Nigeria and in a new nutritionals facility near Shanghai in China.

In 2003 Glanbia established a 50:50 joint venture with PZ Cussons plc supplying evaporated milk and milk powder to the Nigerian market.

The joint venture has a packing facility for milk powders, much of which is sourced in Ireland and a manufacturing plant for evaporated milk. The partners have now decided to double the capacity of the evaporated milk facility and to develop a second facility to produce a further range of beverages to meet the requirements of Nigeria's consumer market. Glanbia is to invest €22.5m in these projects over the next two years.

Glanbia is also investing €4.6m in its first nutritonals facility in the Asia Pacific region. The group is currently supplying dairy and non dairy derived nutritional solutions to the Asian market, particularly aimed at the rapidly growing infant formula sector. The facility will be located in Suzhou, outside Shanghai and is expected to be completed in early 2008.