The banks and bondholders want the most money and don't give a damn what whoever pays the most does after buying. Dean Foods can't make that decision. Opponents fear a milk monopoly The New Food Economy by Jessica Fu. officials as we have with past transactions.”The Justice Department appears to have been monitoring the situation since the early stages of the Dean Foods bankruptcy proceeding, when department lawyers filed notices of appearance in the case, effectively declaring that the government had an interest in the outcome. LMAOI can see a developer wanting to do that. “If we reach a deal, we would fully cooperate with D.O.J. Those investments have created a conflict of interest, some dairy farmers argue, because processors benefit from lower milk prices, while farmers benefit from higher ones.
Since at least December, antitrust officials at the Justice Department have been scrutinizing the potential Dean Foods merger, speaking with farmers and the lawyers who represent them about how a deal would affect milk pricing and competition, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with people familiar with the inquiry.Monica Massey, the executive vice president at Dairy Farmers of America, said the co-op had spoken with the Justice Department to “keep them apprised” of its thinking. A guy could really make a k–ling with all that land to develop. Mr. Zakarian said he had discussed the email with Mr. Harris after one of his clients received it.Over the years, however, the co-op has also invested heavily in processing, meaning it buys some of the raw milk that its marketing branch sells.
But in September, the judge overseeing the case allowed it to move to a trial, writing in her decision that the plaintiffs had presented evidence from which a “rational jury could conclude that the D.F.A. Maybe they could invest in Deans stock! 6 May, 2020 Dean Foods Completes Sale of its Miami, Florida Facility to Mana Saves McArthur, LLC DALLAS-- (BUSINESS WIRE)--Dean Foods today announced that it has completed the previously announced s... 1 May, 2020 Too bad. Jan. 29, 2020 When the struggling milk giant Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy protection in November, it also announced a possible path forward — a takeover by Dairy Farmers of America, a … management favored growth of its commercial operations and empire building over the interests of its farmer-members.”“We have not reached an agreement with Dean Foods for its assets, so it may be premature, but the Justice Department has a job to do,” Ms. Massey said. Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF) ("Dean Foods" or the "Company") today announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has entered a …
After several months of back and forth following the Dean Foods bankruptcy, the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) co-op is acquiring a majority of its assets for $433m. Dean Foods may honestly want to sell to DFA with a promise from DFA that they will hire everyone and keep them working. IMO corporate would sell the run down, inefficient , older buildings first for next to nothing so they can get them off their hands. ET on BusinessWire - BZX But this month, a department lawyer sent an email to farmers who sell raw milk to Dean Foods, asking to discuss the possible merger over the phone.On Dec. 20, an antitrust official at the Justice Department, Karl Knutsen, called Mr. Zakarian and Joel G. Beckman, another lawyer working on the Dairy Farmers of America lawsuit in Vermont, asking them to waive a confidentiality provision to allow investigators to read depositions and other documents in the case.The lawyer, Nate Harris, planned to ask the dairy farmers how they came to work with Dean Foods and whether they would have options to sell their milk elsewhere if Dairy Farmers of America acquired the company, according to Dana A. Zakarian, a lawyer representing a group of dairy farmers in a lawsuit against the cooperative in Vermont. Hundreds laid off.Upvoted because it sounds like a rumor with some substance, not because I want the rumor to be true.Multi acre? “We are investigating Dairy Farmers of America’s potential acquisition of Dean Foods and the potential loss of competition for selling raw milk,” the email said, according to a copy reviewed by The Times.Antitrust officials have been investigating a potential merger of the struggling milk giant Dean Foods with Dairy Farmers of America, a marketing cooperative.The Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation. One of America’s biggest dairy companies, Dean Foods, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday, leaving the future uncertain for its milk suppliers, some of whom don’t know whether they can stay in business if their major buyer goes belly up. Some argue that it would help farmers because it would guarantee a stable market for their milk at a time when milk consumption is declining nationwide.The Vermont suit alleges that Dairy Farmers of America has engaged in a wide range of anticompetitive practices over the years, striking deals with other co-ops not to poach one another’s members and sharing milk-pricing information to suppress payments to farmers.“If markets are in trouble, any deal would be beneficial to our dairy farmers,” said Ms. Massey, the co-op’s vice president.The Justice Department’s apparent interest in the Vermont case might indicate that government lawyers are weighing a broader investigation into Dairy Farmers of America’s practices that would go beyond the possible merger with Dean Foods, said Peter Carstensen, a former antitrust lawyer at the Justice Department.“They’re really focusing in on the impact on farmers and how this kind of transaction could greatly increase the capacity of D.F.A.