Canada’s Saputo has emerged as the winner in the battle to buy the speciality cheese business of Australia’s Lion Dairy & Drinks from Japan’s Kirin Holdings.
The dairy giant will pay AUD280m (US$196.9m) for the asset which Kirin put up for sale last October following a strategic review of its business.
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It is Saputo’s second big acquisition in Australia in 18 months. In October 2017 it agreed to pay $1bn for the struggling dairy business Murray Goulburn.
A number of potential suitors had been linked with the Lion Dairy & Drinks assets, including locally-based Freedom Foods Group, Coca-Cola Amatil and China’s Yili, before Saputo emerged as the clear favourite.
Lion’s speciality cheese portfolio is marketed under a range of brands including South Cape, Tasmanian Heritage, Mersey Valley and King Island Dairy. The acquisition also includes two manufacturing facilities in Burnie and King Island, Tasmania, which, between them, employ approximately 400 people.
In 2018, the business generated revenues of approximately AUD192m.
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By GlobalDataSaputo said the acquisition will will enable it to further diversify its product offering, adding to and complementing its current activities.
The transaction, which is subject to clearance by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, is expected to close in the second half of 2019.
Saputo has been in acquisitive mood of late. In February it announced it had bought UK peer Dairy Crest, the owner of brands including Clover butter and Cathedral City cheese, in a deal estimated to be worth $1.27bn.
Earlier this month the company said it was still interested in making further acquisitions.
