Bright Food looks overseas again, eyes Australia's Manassen Foods
July 11, Bright Food (Group) Co. Ltd., one of China’s largest food conglomerates, is continuing its pursuit of overseas acquisitions, with Manassen Foods Australia Pty Ltd. as its latest reported target.
A bid for the Australian food maker, if foreign media reports prove correct, would be the sixth time the company has made a play for an overseas asset.
Last week, rumors surfaced that the company was considering making an offer for Australian Treasury Wine Estates Ltd., after having been through several rounds of negotiations with the wine maker.
Treasury Wine Estates, a former unit under Foster’s Group Ltd., is valued at $2.4 billion.
Zest for Foreign Assets
Shanghai-based Bright Food said in January that it expected a huge part of its sales growth this year to come from acquired assets from a wide array of sectors from dairy to liquor.
It has made several unsuccessful attempts to snap up overseas assets since 2010, losing out with an offer for the sugar unit of Australia’s CSR Ltd. to Singaporean firm Wilmar International Ltd.
Earlier this year, Bright Food moved its attention to the European continent and was linked to a deal to buy British snacks maker United Biscuits (Holdings) Ltd. from U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP and French buy-out firm PAI Partners SAS.
Bright Food denied any formal interest in United Biscuits.
The company later lost out on a 50% stake in French yogurt maker Yoplait SA, the world’s second-largest yogurt producer after Groupe Danone SA, to American food group General Mills Inc, and failed to snap up U.S. vitamin retail group GNC Holdings Inc.
Differences over pricing and terms and uncertainty over regulatory approval hampered some of those deals.
Bright Food’s one bright spot was the successful acquisition of a 51% stake in New Zealand milk processor Synlait Milk Ltd. last year, which set the tone for its Bright Dairy & Food Co. Ltd. (600597.SH) unit’s entry into the high-end baby milk powder market in China.