DFMC welcomes Lion sale to Bega

Dairy Farmers Milk Cooperative welcomes the announcement that, after over two years of being on the market, Lion Dairy & Drinks has been bought by ASX-listed Bega Cheese Ltd.

Bega is a strongly established Australian dairy and food business, with over 120 years of heritage. It is clear that Bega is ideally positioned to drive the Dairy & Drinks business forward.

The sale will include all the white milk, Milk Based Beverages (MBB), yoghurt, juice and water ice brands, including Lion’s blockbuster brands – Dairy Farmers, Dare, Pura, Masters, Farmers Union, Yoplait, Berri, Daily Juice, The Juice Brothers and Zooper Dooper.

It also includes Lion Dairy & Drinks’ 11 dairy and juice manufacturing sites in Australia, the Dairy & Drinks International business, Lion’s share of the joint ventures Vitasoy Australia products (Vitasoy) and Capitol Chilled Foods Australia (CCFA), its majority shareholding in Made by Cow and the Dairy & Drinks’ licensing agreement for the Yoplait brand in Australia and South-East Asia.

Whilst we were initially disappointed to learn that Mengniu Dairy did not proceed with the sale process of LDD, we are pleased to see that Bega’s purchase is unconditional and requires no further regulatory approvals.

Bega is an iconic and well managed diversified food company with the heart and soul of a dairy company, and DFMC looks forward to commencing discussions with Bega about growing the supply of milk from our family dairy farmers’ base.

It is anticipated that the sale will be completed in early 2021 and will keep you updated should we hear any further announcements.

There is no change to your current milk supply contract as a result of this announcement