California-based cheese manufacturing company Cowgirl Creamery has been sold to Swiss dairy company Emmi for an undisclosed sum.
Cowgirl Creamery co-founder Sue Conley was quoted by pressdemocrat.com as saying: "We have merged our company with Emmi, with the idea that it's the best way to keep it going and growing."
Conley and his partner Peggy Smith, who started the company almost 20 years ago, owned 80% stake in the firm. Both of them will continue to work as co-managers at Cowgirl, with Conley as its vice president and Smith as president.
The sale includes Petaluma production facility and retail outlets in Point Reyes Station and the Ferry Building in San Francisco.
Emmi will also acquire food distribution company Tomales Bay Foods, which a key route for small, local cheese makers to market their products.
The transaction is the third acquisition on the North Coast for Emmi. In December, it acquired Sebastopol's Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery, a goat milk processing and cheese making company in the US. In 2010, Emmi acquired Arcata goat cheese maker Cypress Grove Chevre.
Cowgirl is planning to expand its production facility in Petaluma. Emmi will provide the required capital for the expansion, according to Conley.
Conley said: "They appreciate the small artisan and specialty aspects of what we do. They're not going to try to make us into an industrial cheese plant. They're encouraging us to keep on the same path."
Conley said that Smith and she had begun acquisition talks with Emmi about a year ago.
