Green light for FrieslandCampina and Milcobel merger
16 December 2025 – Amersfoort, Kallo
The FrieslandCampina Members’ Council and the Extraordinary General Meeting of Milcobel have approved the proposed merger of the two cooperatives. Both bodies voted in favour by a large majority, meaning the merger will take effect on 1 January 2026.
Sybren Attema, Chair of the Board of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A., said: “We are pleased that our Members’ Council and Milcobel’s Extraordinary General Meeting have approved the merger. This is a logical step. We are joining forces, increasing our scale, and strengthening our market positions. Together we are stronger.”
Betty Eeckhaut, Chair of the Board of Milcobel, added: “This merger stems from our shared ambition to offer our member dairy farmers and their successors a future with stability and good income. By joining forces, we increase our impact.”
Full membership for Milcobel members
From 1 January 2026, Milcobel’s member dairy farmers will become full cooperative members of FrieslandCampina, with the same rights, obligations, and milk price system as existing members. This ensures equal treatment and participation for all members within the new cooperative.
Governance and leadership
The integration will be led by the cooperative’s board and the company’s executive team.
Sybren Attema will remain Chair of the Board of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A. and of the Supervisory Board of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. Betty Eeckhaut will join the cooperative’s board and take a seat on FrieslandCampina’s Supervisory Board.
Jan Derck van Karnebeek will remain CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. Peter Grugeon, former CEO of Milcobel, will become President of the Professional business group as of 1 April, joining FrieslandCampina’s executive team. He succeeds Roger Loo, who will take over as President of Specialised Nutrition from Harvey Uong, who will leave the company as of 1 April 2026. We thank Harvey for his dedication and successful contribution to the growth of the Specialised Nutrition business group and wish him every success in his next step. These steps ensure continuity of leadership and governance within the organisation.
Two new districts
The merger will create two new districts within FrieslandCampina:
- Milcobel-West (District 15): Northeast Flanders, Bruges Area, Westhoek, Southwest Flanders, and Southeast Flanders;
- Milcobel-East (District 16): Kempenland, Northwest Antwerp, Limburg & Brabant, and Cercle Francophone.
The new district councils will be led by Bram Maes (West) and Vanessa Tindemans-Van Eynde (East). Maes runs a dairy farm in Aalter, Flanders, and Tindemans-Van Eynde in Pessoux, Wallonia. Each district council will have eight to ten elected dairy farmers and will serve as the contact point for the district. Together, they form the Members’ Council, with voting weight per district depending on the volume of milk supplied.
Integration of Milcobel business units into FrieslandCampina
Milcobel’s business units will be integrated into FrieslandCampina’s business groups. The merger creates a powerful, internationally operating dairy company with a broad product portfolio and a strong position in Europe and beyond. Customers will benefit from an even wider range, greater innovation capacity, and a reliable, sustainable partner for high-quality dairy products. The combined expertise and scale will enable us to respond more quickly to changing market demands. The company’s headquarters will remain in Amersfoort.
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About FrieslandCampina
For over 150 years, cooperation has been the strength of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A., a dairy cooperative of 14,183 member dairy farmers (9,001 dairy farms) in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. The member dairy farmers are joint owners of Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. through the cooperative and supply the milk processed by the company into nutritious dairy products, sold under its own brands or as private labels to consumers and professional customers worldwide. The company aims to maximise the value of members’ milk and generate income for members to invest in the sustainable future of their dairy farms. In 2024, the company processed 9 billion kilograms of members’ milk and had a turnover of 12.9 billion euros. FrieslandCampina has locations in 30 countries and, at the end of 2024, employed over 19,500 people worldwide. For more information: www.frieslandcampina.com.
About Milcobel
Milcobel is a leading Belgian dairy company with cooperative ownership. The Milcobel Group has six sites in Belgium, which together achieved a turnover of 1.3 billion euros in 2024. Milcobel has around 1,500 member dairy farmers and processed 1.2 billion kilograms of milk in 2024. A team of 950 employees processes the milk into high-quality dairy products such as cheese, butter, milk powder, crem, and whey. In addition to its own brands and private label cheese for major supermarket chains, Milcobel produces raw materials and dairy ingredients for the food industry. Milcobel is a locally rooted company with a global market and customers in around 80 countries. More information at www.milcobel.com.