Country Life is a British butter brand established in 1970, made from 100 per cent British milk and Red Tractor assured, and sold as block and spreadable butter. It is not related to the magazine of the same name. Saputo acquired it with Dairy Crest in 2019 and agreed in August 2026 to sell it to Lactalis with the rest of its UK division.
Saputo is a publicly listed company headquartered in Montréal, Canada, founded in 1954. Brandtree records 13 brands under its control, and it is listed as TSX: SAP.
Saputo was founded in Montréal in 1954 by a family from Montelepre in Sicily, with $500 of equipment and a bicycle for deliveries. It became Canada's most important mozzarella producer, went public in 1997, and says it is one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, with leading positions in Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. It is now shrinking at the edges: in fiscal 2026 it sold King Island Dairy and two Australian fresh milk plants, in February 2026 agreed to sell 80 per cent of its Argentine dairy division to Gloria Foods, and on 14 August 2026 agreed to sell its UK division, including Cathedral City, to Lactalis, with closing expected by the end of March 2027.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 571 brands that began in the United Kingdom.
297 of them (52%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Country Life among them.
Saputo agreed to sell its United Kingdom operations, Saputo Dairy UK, to Lactalis for an enterprise value of about £988 million. The business includes Cathedral City, the best-selling cheddar in Britain, along with Davidstow, Wensleydale, Clover and Country Life, which Saputo gained with Dairy Crest in 2019. Coming months after Lactalis bought Fonterra's Anchor and Mainland, it would make the French family group the owner of the leading British cheddar as well.
The parent company of Country Life is Saputo, a publicly listed company headquartered in Canada.
Is Country Life British or Canadian?
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Country Life originated in the United Kingdom in 1970, but it is owned today by Saputo, which is headquartered in Canada. So Country Life is a British-origin brand under Canadian ownership.
Since when has Saputo owned Country Life?
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Saputo has owned Country Life since 2019.
Is Country Life still owned by Saputo?
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Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Country Life is still owned by Saputo. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & 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.
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