June 20, 2013

Abraaj Group is acquiring the majority shareholding of Fan Milk International A/S of which takeover is expected before the end of November 2013.

"For more than 50 years, Fan Milk has developed from being a small company producing and selling dairy products in Ghana and with its head office in Aalborg into a truly international dairy group with revenue of DKK880 million (US$156 million) in 2012 and a fantastic brand throughout all of West Africa," says Preben Sunke, Chairman of Fan Milk International's Board of Directors.

The Emborg family, who are the majority shareholders, and the private equity fund Maj Invest have been thinking about selling the company for some time, as there has been a common desire to place further development of the company in the hands of new owners.

It was hardly in the cards for the visionary businessman Erik Emborg that Fan Milk should one day become one of the most well-known and treasured brands in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, when, after several trips to West Africa in the late 1950s, he decided to establish the first dairy company in Ghana.

By West African standards, Fan Milk is an unusually high-profile enterprise which is visible and very much in evidence in its markets. In several countries, awareness of the Fan Milk brands even surpasses that of several global food and drinks conglomerates. Thousands of jobs have been created in the poor but fast-growing region where Fan Milk has a market of 250 million consumers.

"It is a Danish entrepreneurial adventure which has blossomed and matured into a self-sustaining international group," says Preben Sunke, adding that growth in recent years has been made possible after Maj Invest joined the circle of owners at the end of 2007.

"The African continent is seeing dramatic growth and development. Today, more than half of the fastest-growing economies in the world are found in Africa, and signs are that this trend will strengthen further towards 2020," says Preben Sunke.