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Shoosmiths is key ingredient in £3.5m dairy deal

05 December 2008

Shoosmiths has helped an award-winning Midlands cheese maker strengthen its business.

The national law firm advised HSBC as it funded Long Clawson Dairy Limited’s £3.5m acquisition of Dairy Crest’s specialist Stilton business.

Led by Helen Wilson and Tom Bird in the Midlands finance team, Shoosmiths involved corporate, property, employment, competition and intellectual property lawyers in the deal.

Clawson, a farmers’ cooperative based near Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire, has bought the business and assets of Dairy Crest‘s Stilton and blue cheese operation Hartington Creamery, in Derbyshire. The deal includes the site, plant and equipment, and trademarks.

Banking specialist Tom Bird said: “We made sure HSBC was properly advised and protected at all stages of the deal. We also conducted due diligence on behalf of HSBC, which proved quite a complex procedure.

“But being able to involve so many of our Midlands-based specialists in the deal demonstrated perfectly our local strength in depth.”

HSBC corporate agrifood manager for the Midlands John Barker said: “Being able to draw on such a wide range of specialisms through a single law firm certainly helped smooth a quite complex process, particularly when it came to due diligence. I’m not sure many other firms would have been able to do that.” 

The deal strengthens Clawson’s business, and enables it to invest in new technology, innovation, production and maturation facilities.

Founded in 1911, Long Clawson Dairy operates from three sites and has a product portfolio of more than 30 cheeses, including Blue Stilton and Blue Shropshire. Hartington Creamery was established in the 1870s by the Duke of Devonshire to produce Stilton.

For further information please contact:
Name: Alastair Gray
Phone: 08700 864096
Email: Alastair.Gray@shoosmiths.co.uk

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