DCI Cheese Company (DCI) announced that the company has entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Saputo Cheese USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Saputo Inc., will acquire Fairmount Cheese Holdings Inc. (Fairmount), parent company of DCI Cheese Co. The transaction is anticipated to be completed in March 2011.

“We are very excited to become a part of the Saputo team,” says Michael Mulhern, CEO of Fairmount. “Saputo is a high performance organization with significant manufacturing and operational resources which will enhance our ability to better serve customers.”

Saputo produces, markets and distributes a wide array of products of the utmost quality, including cheese, fluid milk, yogurt, dairy ingredients and snack-cakes. Saputo is the 12th largest dairy processor in the world, the largest in Canada, the third largest in Argentina, among the top 3 cheese producers in the U.S. and the largest snack-cake manufacturer in Canada. Saputo’s products are sold in more than 40 countries under well-known brand names such as Saputo, Alexis de Portneuf, Armstrong, Baxter, Dairyland, Danscorella, De Lucia, Dragone, DuVillage 1860, Frigo Cheese Heads, Kingsey, La Paulina, Neilson, Nutrilait, Ricrem, Stella, Treasure Cave, HOP&GO!, Rondeau and Vachon. Saputo is a publicly traded company whose shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SAP. PD

—From DCI news release