Dairy firm Bead Foods bought by Agro Farma
Agro Farma, the US company behind popular new yoghurt brand Chobani, has acquired Australia’s Bead Foods, maker of Gippsland Dairy and Rowena choc-tops.
The deal, announced yesterday for an undisclosd sum, is a “major milestone” for Agro Farma, CEO and founder Hamdi Ulukaya said.
“This acquisition marks a major milestone for Agro Farma as we expand our global reach into key international markets. And we couldn’t have picked a better partner to start with,” Ulukaya said.
Bead Foods, established in 2001, makes dairy products, including Gippsland Dairy yoghurt, which Agro Farma said the two companies would look to grow into “one of Australia’s most successful yoghurt brands”.
Agro Farma cited data from Retail Media that said Australian yoghurt sales stood at A$937m in 2010, up 7.6% on 2009. “Our goal is to grow the yogurt category in Australia,” Ulukaya said.
Bead Foods CEO David Mann said the company looked forward to being a part of Agro Farma, a company he described as “a strong organisation that shares our passion for authenticity and craftsmanship”.
Agro Farma was founded in 2005 as a feta cheese manaufacturer but moved into the US yoghurt market in 2007 with the launch of Chobani.
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I purchased some Gippsland family size mango and passionfruit yogurt – use by date 17/12/13. Opened it on Monday (9th December) and it was “öff”
I find this quite unaccepatable as I have stored it in fridge as per manufactures instructions. This is an expensive brand of Yogurt and I feel i should be compensated in some way.