National Foods

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National Foods is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lion Nathan a brewery company that produces brands including the famous Tooheys New. It is one of Australia's largest food companies, with core activities in milk, fresh dairy foods, juice and specialty cheese.

National Foods was created in 1991 by amalgamating several dairy and food related businesses with brand names and histories dating back to the 1800s.

The company is a major milk producer in Australia with its flagship Pura brand. It is also a major juice producer and a leader in the fresh dairy products market. As of 2007, National Foods has almost half the national flavoured milk market with brand Big M. National Foods also manufactures yogurt, fromage frais, dairy desserts, cream and cheese under brands that include Yoplait, Frûche, Divine Classic, YoGo and Farmers Union. The company also produces a range of premium specialty cheeses under brands such as King Island Dairy, South Cape, Tilba, Timboon and Clover Creek. In specialty foods, National Foods makes the Superior Gold brand of smoked salmon brand.

[edit] Acquisition and merger

San Miguel Corporation entered a bidding war for National Foods with New Zealand's Fonterra in 2004. National Foods board unanimously accepted the San Miguel Corporation offer.

National Foods had earlier sold its juice business to Berri Ltd. After their acquisition National Foods regained 100% ownership of Berri Ltd. in December 2005. The two operations began the merger process soon afterwards. Following the merger, National Foods became the largest citrus and fruit processor in Australia, packaging approximately 50% of all fruit juice beverages sold in Australia.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had earlier signed off on San Miguel Corporation's various Australian acquisitions, noting "there is no overlap between San Miguel's different activities in Australia and hence no change likely to the different markets in which these businesses operate."

Today National Foods has 3500 employees and 20 processing plants around Australia and New Zealand. There are seven milk plants, five juice plants, four specialty cheese plants, a cheese packaging plant, two dairy foods plants and our joint venture soy beverage plant.

[edit] Recent news

On the 8th November 2007 San Miguel Corp. offloaded National Foods to Kirin Holdings Co. which has a 20% stake in San Miguel for $3.1 billion. National Foodsis now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lion Nathan. In 2005 San Miguel acquired National Foods for $1.8 billion. San Miguel now has no working relations with Australia.

Recently, Kirin Holdings Co, which has a 20% stake in San Miguel Corporation, has been negotiating acquiring a stake in National Foods.

Near the end of September, workers at National Foods Bentley plant ended a short strike over wages after coming to an agreement with management officials.

[edit] External links

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