January 8/Mumbai, New Delhi/Financial Times -- Le Groupe Lactalis has bought out Hyderabad-based Tirumala Milk Products for $275 million (Rs 1,750 crore), two people with knowledge of the development said.

The French dairy group has bought the 74% stake held by Tirumala Milk's founders and the rest 26% from private equity investor Carlyle Growth Capital Fund.

"We always wanted to build the largest dairy product company. I am sure Lactalis Group, which is the largest company in the world, will make the Tirumala the largest in India also," said Danda Brahmanandam, Tirumala's founder and managing director who along with his three partners holds controlling stake.

Tirumala Milk is the second largest milk supplier in south India. Its processing units across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have a cumulative capacity of 1.2 million liters a day.