Glanbia Purchases Optimum Nutrition

KILKENNY, Ireland—Glanbia plc acquired privately-held Optimum Nutrition for $315 million in a transaction funded from Glanbia’s existing resources. Aurora, Ill.-based Optimum Nutrition operates three facilities in Illinois, South Carolina and Florida, employing 387 people. It generated $185 million in revenue in 2007, with $32 million operating profit.

John Moloney, managing director of Glanbia Group, said: “This is an exciting acquisition for Glanbia, as it gives us a leading position of scale in a fast growing segment of the nutrition market. It is a close strategic fit with our core areas of expertise in whey and sports nutrition and brings us up the value chain into consumer markets. Optimum also fits very well with [Glanbia’s] stated growth strategy and ambition to continue to internationalize our business. The transaction is expected to be earnings enhancing from this year.”