Farrelly & Mitchell has welcomed Irish Dairy Board’s investment in Al-Wazeen Trading.

The announcement came as Farrelly & Mitchell’s Riyadh office hosted Irish Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney at an Agri-Food Roundtable. The reception was convened for senior Irish and Saudi agri-food decision-makers.

Farrelly & Mitchell acted as advisers to Al-Wazeen Trading, which has disposed of three quarters of its shares to the Irish Dairy Board (IDB).

The acquisition is central to the IDB’s strategy of establishing a manufacturing hub for its products in the MENA.

The Farrelly & Mitchell Agri-Food Roundtable, hosted in association with Enterprise Ireland, outlined many other opportunities that exist for agri-food investors in Ireland and Saudi Arabia.

“Farrelly & Mitchell welcomes the Irish minister’s timely visit to the region at this important juncture,” said Malachy Mitchell, MD of Farrelly & Mitchell. “Investors have an opportunity to build a solid business in the rapidly-growing GCC market.”

Not only does this region provide a significant market for Irish dairy commodities, but the strategy to manufacture value-added products locally supports the Kingdom’s food security and water conservation initiatives, he added.

Farrelly & Mitchell, which is based both in Dublin, Ireland and Riyadh, provide specialist agri-food advisory, M&A, technical and project implementation services.