Farmers' call
OPINION: Fonterra's $4.22 billion consumer business sale to Lactalis is ruffling a few feathers outside the dairy industry.
Fonterra is a step closer to buying a cornerstone stake in leading Chinese infant food manufacturer, Beingmate.
China’s Ministry of Commerce has now granted anti-trust and strategic foreign investment approval for the proposed partnership.
In a statement Fonterra says further regulatory approvals are required before it proceeds to the next stage which is a partial tender offer to gain up to 20% of Beingmate.
Fonterra says it will provide further updates as the partnership progresses.
Last year Fonterra announced it was teaming up Beingmate to tap into China’s growing demand for infant formula.
Fonterra and Beingmate intend to form a global partnership to supply infant formula.
The partnership will create a fully integrated global supply chain from the farmgate direct to China’s consumers, using Fonterra’s milk pools and manufacturing sites in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe; this will lead to increase glow of Fonterra’s ingredients and branded products exported to China.
The partial tender offer to gain up to a 20% stake in Beingmate is the first phase of the JV; after gaining regulatory approvals and Fonterra satisfactorily completing the partial tender offer, Fonterra and Beingmate will set up a joint venture to purchase Fonterra’s Darnum plant in Australia and will establish a distribution agreement to sell Fonterra’s Anmum brand in China.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings last year said that the partnership between two leading dairy nutrition companies will be a game changer that will provide a direct line into the infant formula market in China, which is the biggest growth story in paediatric nutrition in the world.
The infant formula market in China is worth about $18 billion today and is expected to be worth $33 billion by 2017. This growth is driven by increasing urbanisation, higher disposable incomes, a preference for premium brands, and relaxation of the one child policy.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
Environment Southland's catchment improvement funding is once again available for innovative landowners in need of a boost to get their project going.
The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
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