January 22/Limerick, Ireland/Business Monitor International Ltd. (BMI) -- Irish dairy firm Glanbia is continuing to pursue growth in the sports nutrition sector and has announced the purchase of U.S. firm Bio-Engineered Supplements and Nutrition (BSN) for $144 million. The announcement was greeted positively by investors, with the firm's share price rising by as much as 5% on January 19 2011. The move follows the acquisition of U.S. bodybuilding supplement producer Optimum Nutrition in 2008, and the firm's strategic push in this direction has so far been successful, with the nutrition unit delivering strong sales and earnings growth over the last two years.
Earlier in 2011, Glanbia attempted to spin off its less-dynamic Irish dairy unit to concentrate on building scale in the more attractive areas of nutrition and cheese. However, Glanbia's attempt to separate its dairy division -- Dairy Ireland -- from its consumer products business was thwarted after the Glanbia Co-operative Society, which owns 54.6% of the firm, voted against the deal.