Almost at the same time as reaching a momentous 10-year supply deal with Coles supermarket group and expanding its processing facilities, Australia’s largest dairy co-operative Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited (Murray Goulburn) announced on 18 April 2013 that it had acquired an additional 1.2 million shares in dairy producer Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Holdings Limited (WCB). This takes Murray Goulburn’s shareholding to a 14.5 per cent stake in WCB. Australian Food News reported... ...Read more »

Supermarket giant Coles has surprised its rival Woolworths by secretly buying one of Woolworths’ most profitable Sydney stores. Woolworths confirmed that Coles recently bought its store in Neutral Bay, which is on Sydney’s lower North Shore. A Woolworths spokesperson said the purchase by Coles had not been anticipated. According to internal reports obtained by Fairfax Media journalists, Coles paid $40 million for the centre that the Woolworths store is part of, concealing its involvement in the... ...Read more »

Formerly the largest-selling Australian beer in the world, the Foster’s brand has continued to suffer despite the optimism for improved sales that were anticipated in Australia after the South African brewing giant SABMiller’s $12.3 billion takeover last year. Falling sales and higher Australian costs, and the servicing of high debt levels, were amongst reasons for added pressure on the Foster’s beer division. SABMiller reported last week that Foster’s sales fell 13 per cent in the latest... ...Read more »

The world’s largest beverage company, the Coca-Cola Company, has denied media reports that it has been in talks to acquire Monster Energy Corporation. Monster Beverage Corporation manufactures energy drinks and fruit drinks including Monster Energy. The company manufactures products both in the United States and internationally including Australia. Were it to go ahead, the acquisition would be one of the biggest in Coca-Cola’s history. In Australia, Monster Energy drinks are distributed... ...Read more »

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today announced that it does not propose to intervene in Australian-based multinational packaging company Amcor Limited’s proposed AU$238 million takeover of the privately-owned Aperio Group. Amcor and Aperio are two or the leading companies in Australia’s flexible packaging market. According to the ACCC, if the acquisition were to be completed, the merged company would account for in excess of 30 per cent of Australian sales of flexible... ...Read more »

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has announced its intention to acquire Australian brewing giant Foster’s Fijian brewing business. Making the announcement through a media statement, Coca-Cola Amatil said it will acquire 89.6 per cent shares in the Fiji brewing company for AU$58 million and also intends to make a proposal for the remaining 10.4 per cent of shares in the company. Foster’s Fijian brewing company owns and operates a brewery and distillery, producing and distributing various brands including... ...Read more »

Australian-based multinational packaging company Amcor is waiting for the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) to give its approval for its AU$238 million takeover of the privately owned Aperio Group. Last week, Amcor announced that it had settle a price with Aperio, and that the transaction is now subject to other conditions, including ACCC approval.  Amcor Flexibles currently has 20 manufacturing operations in seven countries. It appears that Amcor is the largest supplier of... ...Read more »

The Directors of Australia’s only ASX-listed sugar miller, MSF Sugar (formerly Maryborough Sugar Factory Limited), have accepted a A$4.45 per share takeover offer by Thai sugar company Mitr Phol. In a media statement released yesterday, the company’s directors recommended that MSF Sugar shareholders also accept the offer in the absence of a superior proposal. According to Mitr Phol’s most recent shareholder notice (lodged with the ASX on 17 January 2012), Mitr Phol currently owns 26.9 per... ...Read more »

Sucrogen, the Australian-based sugar subsidiary of Singapore-listed Wilmar International Limited, has been given approval to purchase Proserpine Sugar Mill by the mill’s creditors, Westpac Bank. Sucrogen’s offer comprised a headline price of A$120 million, plus a working capital adjustment, normal settlement adjustments, as well as absorption of the mill’s normal operating costs and certain critical capital expenditure incurred from 31 October 2011. Sucrogen CEO Ian Glasson said the creditors’... ...Read more »

The Full Federal Court has upheld a primary Federal Court judgment which allows Metcash to acquire shares in the Franklins chain of supermarkets, from Pick n Pay Retailers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had appealed the earlier Federal Court judgment of Justice Emmett, refusing the ACCC’s application to stop Metcash from acquiring the Franklins supermarket chain. The Full Court has ordered that the ACCC pay Metcash’s legal costs. Once it has acquired the 80 Franklins... ...Read more »