Arla Foods, Inc., USA, Basking Ridge, N.J., reached an agreement to sell its flexible packaging subsidiary Danapak Flexibles A/S to Austrian-based Schur Flexibles Group.

Danapak Flexibles is a Denmark-based supplier of high-quality packaging for companies in the dairy and food industries. Founded in 1955 by the Danish Dairy Board, the company has since been owned by several companies in various constellations, also partly owned by Arla.

In 2009, Arla took over the full ownership of the subsidiary with intentions to prepare the company for a sale to the right buyer within the packaging industry. Meanwhile, Danapak Flexibles has continued to operate as a stand-alone business.

“We believe this is a ‘win-win’ situation for all parties involved for Danapak, for Schur Flexibles and for Arla. Over the past several years Arla has sold off subsidiaries that do not have a direct link to dairy production in order to focus on our core business. Since it is not within Arla’s core business to produce packaging, we are no longer the right owner of Danapak, who will be better suited under new ownership that can take the company to the next level in its future development,” says Povl Krogsgaard, vice-CEO for Arla.

The takeover is expected to be effective July 1, subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.