Food, Beverage & Agriculture

Our team has extensive experience across all segments of the Food, Beverage and Agriculture industry and guide many key operators in the sector including producers of food, agribusinesses, and manufacturers of packaging, as well as distributors, supermarkets, retailers, franchises and restaurants through their most complex legal and business challenges.

We also advise a significant number of capital sources that invest the sector, including banks, venture capital and private equity.

Our multi-disciplinary team includes lawyers from our corporate, employment, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, litigation, tax, and environmental practices.

Representative experience includes advising:

• Kerry Co-op in the long running leading milk price dispute with Kerry Group which was resolved as part of the Co-Op's proposal to buy Kerry Group's dairy business, Kerry Dairy Ireland, for €500 million.
  
• a number of clients in the Food and Beverage industry including Pepsico, Musgrave, CGI Food Services Limited, Ornua, Pallas Foods, Aurivo, Plassey Foods, Innovate Food Technology, Hesscroft Ltd, Corcoran Food Equipment Catering Systems, Arrabawn Co-Op, Carbery Group and Ferrero Ireland Limited on employment matters.
• Dairygold on a corporate power purchase agreement with a farmer supplier which will see the leading dairy co-operative’s plants powered by solar energy.
• a global leader in food ingredients, flavours and cheese on numerous contractual arrangements to include multi-jurisdictional distribution and supply arrangements.
• a leading European food company on Irish competition and commercial law aspects of a new hybrid product distribution model.
• Teagasc on the development of pro-forma commercial licence templates for use in the connection with IP arising from the Meat Technology Ireland.
• University College Dublin (UCD) on legal arrangements for the third phase of Food for Health Ireland, a Technology Centre based in the university that aims to improve global health through innovation in functional food.
• a global leader in food ingredients in relation to the negotiation of licences to intellectual property arising from the Enterprise Ireland funded Food for Health Ireland Collaborative Research Programme.
• Independent Irish Health Foods Limited on its sale to Bellingham Capital.
• Colso Coldstorage Ltd on its sale to Constellation Cold Logistics, a leading European cold storage and logistics provider.
• Dublin Meat Company on its investment from Ireland’s largest growth capital investor BGF and its simultaneous acquisition of Swift Fine Foods.
• Doyles Veg Prep on its acquisition by the Musgrave Group.
• on the acquisition of Silverpail Dairy (Ireland) Limited and Havana Company Limited out of examinership.
• Lidl Ireland, Tesco and Musgrave on Defence Litigation matters in Personal Injury Claims, claims in defamation and other ancillary litigation matters at District, Circuit and High Court level.