BROOMFIELD -Dean Foods Co. said it completed its spinoff of WhiteWave Foods Co. on Thursday, May 23.

Broomfield-based WhiteWave Foods Co. (NYSE: WWAV) shareholders own 80 percent of the company. Dallas-based Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) owns 20 percent of the company.

Dean Foods said it plans to sell its remaining WhiteWave shares within 18 months, according to a press statement released Thursday. WhiteWave went public Oct. 26 in a $391 million stock offering.

No changes are expected at WhiteWave's headquarters in Broomfield where about 550 are employed, said Blaine McPeak, WhiteWave's president. The company also plans to open a corporate office in Denver, and "handfuls" of people may move from the Broomfield office to the new office, McPeak said, without giving details.

Gregg Engles, WhiteWave's chairman and chief executive, will be based in Denver, McPeak said. The new office is at 1225 17th St.

"We're incredibly excited about this. It gives us great flexibility to pursue our strategies with vigor and to grow and make products," McPeak said Thursday.

Dean Foods distributed 47.7 million shares of WhiteWave Class A common stock and 67.9 million shares of WhiteWave Class B common stock to its shareholders, according to the press statement. Dean Foods did not reveal the price of each share distributed, but WhiteWave's Class A common stock closed at $17.82 Thursday. White Wave's Class B common stock closed at $17.50 Thursday.

The amount of money Deans Food will make on the spinoff of WhiteWave will be determined by how much Class A and B stocks are valued at the time they are sold.

To prevent Dean Foods' shareholders from paying taxes on the transaction, shares were not sold, according to the press statement. Dean Food will sell the shares and make cash payments to shareholders sometime in the future, according to the press statement.

WhiteWave's market capitalization is $3.13 billion. The company's signature products include Silk Soymilk, Horizon Organic and Land O' Lakes dairy products and International Delight coffee creamers, among others.

"The way I look at it, is, we're a growth company, and we're going to continue to grow," McPeak said.

WhiteWave plans to repurchase up to $150 million of its common stock, which may lead to the company buying other companies in the future, according to the press statement. The share repurchase also offsets the dilution of its equity compensation plans for employees, according to the press statement.

The company's European headquarters will remain in Belgium, where WhiteWave bought the Alpro yogurt brand in June 2011 for about $455 million.

McPeak highlighted both employee community giving efforts and sustainability as part of the company's corporate culture in an interview Thursday. The company's mid-size market capitalization puts it in the same league as publicly traded food and beverage companies such as Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX) in Seattle, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (Nasdaq: GMCR) in Knoxville, Tennessee, he said.

Boulder entrepreneur Steve Demos founded WhiteWave in Boulder in 1977. Dean Foods acquired the company in 2002.

WhiteWave Class A stock was at $18.19 in mid-day trading. Class B stock was trading at $17.43. The Class A stock has traded in a range between $14.22 and $19.59 since the public offering in October.