Bellamy’s sale a winning formula
Sell
ONE of Australia’s top infant formula companies has been sold to a Chinese group partowned by China’s government after investors backed a $1.5 billion buyout offer.
Shareholders in Bellamy’s Australia yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour of the takeover offer from China Mengniu Dairy.
At a meeting in Melbourne, shareholders accounting for 99.2 per cent of Bellamy’s shares voted in favour of the deal.
The proportion of shareholders in favour of the buyout clocked in at 82.9 per cent.
In September, China Mengniu tabled its offer — the biggest Chinese takeover in the dairy sector since the Van Diemen’s Land Company was sold in 2016.
China Mengniu last month struck another deal in the Australian dairy sector, agreeing to pay $600 million for brands including Pura, Big M, Farmers Union and Dairy Farmers.
It is buying those businesses, along with brands including Berri juice and Zooper Dooper flavoured iceblocks, from Lion, which is owned by Japanese beverage heavyweight Kirin.
The Foreign Investment Review Board had already approved the Bellamy’s buyout, although the infant formula supplier will have to remain headquartered in Australia and run by a board that has majority Australian citizens.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has backed the review board’s assessment that the deal is not contrary to Australia’s national interest, but imposed the extra conditions.
Mr Frydenberg has also required the Chinese buyer to invest at least $12 million in infant milk formula processing facilities in Victoria — Australia’s biggest dairy-producing state.
The directors of Bellamy’s, which is chaired by John Ho and led by chief executive Andrew Cohen, had backed the buyout offer.
China Mengniu’s second biggest shareholder is the Chinese state-owned Cofco agricultural conglomerate, which has a stake of just under 20 per cent.
Its grab for Lion’s dairy business will also need to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.