Anchor is owned by Lactalis (France), which acquired the brand on 31 March 2026 from Fonterra, as part of a NZ$3.85 billion deal that also included Mainland, Anlene and 4 others.[1][2][3]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Anchor butter was first made in the Waikato in 1886 and became the export brand New Zealand dairy was known by across Britain, Asia and the Middle East. It passed from Fonterra to Lactalis with the rest of the consumer business in 2026, with one exception: Fonterra kept the Anchor consumer brand in Greater China, and still uses the name for its own foodservice range.
Lactalis is a family-owned company headquartered in Laval, France, founded in 1933. Brandtree records 12 brands under its control.
Lactalis is the largest dairy company in the world by revenue, founded in Laval, France in 1933 and still owned by the Besnier family, which has never listed it. It publishes limited financial information and has grown almost entirely by acquiring national dairy champions across Europe, the Americas and Australia.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 76 brands that began in New Zealand.
20 of them (26%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Anchor among them.
Fonterra sold its entire global consumer business to Lactalis, agreeing the sale in August 2025 for NZ$3.845 billion and completing it on 31 March 2026; resolving a separate dispute with Bega Cheese took total proceeds to NZ$4.22 billion. It moved a century of New Zealand household dairy brands, Anchor and Mainland among them, to a French family company in a single transaction, and turned Fonterra into a business-to-business supplier that now sells milk and ingredients to the buyer of its own brands under agreements running at least ten years. Fonterra kept the Anchor consumer brand in Greater China.
The parent company of Anchor is Lactalis, a family-owned company headquartered in France.
Is Anchor New Zealand or French?
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Anchor originated in New Zealand in 1886, but it is owned today by Lactalis, which is headquartered in France. So Anchor is a New Zealand-origin brand under French ownership.
When did Lactalis buy Anchor?
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Lactalis completed its acquisition of Anchor on 31 March 2026, after announcing the deal on 22 August 2025. The deal, which also included Mainland and Anlene and 4 others, was valued at NZ$3.85 billion (enterprise value).
Is Anchor still owned by Lactalis?
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Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Anchor is still owned by Lactalis. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (3) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
[1]Our brands - Lactalis USA — Lactalis USA (Groupe Lactalis), Official document; retrieved 28 September 2026.
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