Uganda’s Lato milk processor set to acquire Kenyan counterpart

Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | Pearl Dairy Farms Limited, a Ugandan milk processing firm behind the Lato brand, is set to acquire a Kenyan milk company in a transaction that will allow it to take on local firms and beat hurdles disrupting the supply and sale of its products in the country.

Maziwa, the non-operating holding company incorporated in Mauritius, has applied to the Comesa Competition Commission to acquire a 100 percent stake in Highland Creamers & Food, according to a report in The East African.

In Uganda, Maziwa collects, processes and sells milk and milk products under its subsidiary Pearl Dairy Farms Limited while depending on the Kisii firm Highland Creamers & Food to help it sell its products in Western Kenya.

Kenya in March allowed Uganda’s Lato milk to invest in struggling local dairy factories to improve competition in the dairy sector after a meeting between Trade and Investments Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and Uganda’s Treasury Permanent Secretary Ramadan Ggoobi

Pearl, whose main factory is in Mbarara, is currently one of the biggest dairy exporters in the region, with its products on the market in Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, DRC Congo, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Malawi.