Dairy giants in merger

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 11:30 a.m.

FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. -- Suiza Foods Corp. is buying rival Dean Foods Co. for $1.5 billion in cash and stock in a deal that will create a dairy and specialty foods powerhouse with about $10 billion in annual sales.

The deal announced today pairs the two biggest U.S. dairy processors. The new company will be called Dean Foods but will be based in Dallas, where Suiza is headquartered. Suiza stockholders will own 65 percent of its shares.

As part of the deal, Suiza is handing over $165 million and six plants in five states where Dean and Suiza overlap to the Dairy Farmers of American in exchange for a 33.8 percent stake in Suiza Dairy Group. The plants are: the Barber plant in Birmingham, Ala.; Velda plants in Miami and Winter Haven, Fla.; H. Meyer in Cincinnati; Coburg in North Charleston, S.C., and Cream O Weber in Salt Lake City.

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