Yahoo Finance Famous brands return to Aussie ownership in $534m deal
Bega Cheese will acquire Australian brands including Dairy Farmers and Daily Juice after closing a $534 million sale, in a move that doubles the size of the company.
The Australian cheese company will acquire the Lion Dairy & Drinks business after Chinese dairy group, the Mengniu Dairy Company, backed out of plans to take over the Lion business amid worsening trade relations between Australia and China.
Bega (ASX:BGA) described the acquisition as a “significant day” in the company’s history, in a statement to the ASX.
Bega now owns Dairy Farmers, Daily Juice, Berri, Pura, Farmers Union, Dare, Masters, Big M and The Juice Brothers, turning Bega into a $3 billion business.
Those brands will join Bega Cheese, Yoplait, B honey and Vegemite in Bega’s stable.
“This goal of creating a great Australian food company with the capacity to service our customers in Australia and around the world took a major step forward today,” said Bega executive chairman Barry Irvin.
Bega’s shares were 4.66 per cent higher as of 10:41am AEDT on Wednesday.
“We are delighted to return these iconic brands to Australian hands. This is a great moment for Bega and we couldn’t be more excited for such treasured brands to officially join the Bega family,” Irvin said.
“We hope that Australians are as thrilled as we are that much-loved state-based brands that they’ve grown up with, such as Masters (WA), Farmers Union Iced Coffee (SA) and Big M (Victoria) are again Aussie-owned – these great brands are returning to Aussie ownership for the first time in more than a decade.”
The dairy company’s purchase comes after another famous Australian brand R.M. Williams returned to Australian ownership when Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest bought the company in 2020.
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