Kirin Holdings, Japan’s largest brewer and owner of Australian-based National Foods, has won the battle to acquire dairy co-operative Australian Co-Operative Foods (ACF) Limited (Dairy Farmers). In conjunction with Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, National Foods outbid other interested parties, which reportedly included Saputo and Murray Goulburn. Dairy Farmers announced today that National Foods will acquire all of the shares in the Co-operative for a cash consideration of $5.65 per share,... ...Read more »

Reports of Murray Goulburn making a solo bid for Dairy Farmers early last week appear to be accurate, with the company asking for approval of a potential takeover of Dairy Farmers from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Murray Goulburn was initially planning to make a joint bid with Parmalat, but the two companies could not come to terms on an appropriate deal. Negotiations between the two officially ceased a week and a half ago. The proposal by Murray Goulburn is for 100% of Dairy... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has approved the proposed bid for Dairy Farmers by National Foods and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, but raised concerns regarding the Parmalat SpA and Murray-Goulburn joint bid. The clearance of National Foods followed their recent submission to the ACCC, which highlighted that they would be willing to licence brands and sell processing plants in order to decrease the impact a takeover would have on competition. This appeased the concerns of the... ...Read more »

The battle for ownership of Dairy Farmers is now between three contenders, according to reports. The Australian Financial Review believes that Canadian firm Saputo has entered the fray and will now compete with Parmalat and National Foods to purchase the Australian co-operative. The three companies are believed to have submitted formal bids on Friday for the company valued at up to $1b. For months, Saputo, Canada’s largest cheese maker and the world’s 15th largest dairy processor, had... ...Read more »

The ACCC’s decision on approval for Parmalat and Murray-Goulburn’s proposed bid for Dairy Farmers has been delayed until next Thursday. The findings were initially due today but, at “the request of the parties”, the announcement has been put off until next week. Just-Food reported earlier this week that Parmalat believed a decision on the battle to buy Dairy Farmers could be revealed this week, but, given the ACCC has yet to grant approval to any bidder, this appears... ...Read more »

Olam International Limited, a leading integrated supply chain manager of agricultural products and food ingredients, today announced that it will invest and acquire 24.99% equity interest in Dairy Trust Limited (”DTL”), which is poised to become New Zealand’s second largest dairy processing company. The total value of their investment will be just above NZ$100 million (around A$80 million) after they sell their 19.9% stake in Open Country Cheese Co. to DTL. The deal enables Olam... ...Read more »