China’s Bright Food buys Manassen to tap global market

Bright Food Group Co., China’s second-largest food company, has inked a deal to buy a 75 percent stake in Australia’s Manassen Foods as it aims to boost overseas sales.

The two companies hope to “achieve synergies through expanding Manassen Foods’ domestic and export business,” they said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, without stating how much Bright Food agreed to pay. On Aug. 15 two people familiar with the matter said Bright Food will pay about A$400 million ($420 million) to buy the stake from CHAMP Private Equity.

The deal comes after a series of failed acquisition attempts by Bright Food which lost out to General Mills Inc. for a stake in French yogurt maker Yoplait earlier this year. The company was outbid by Wilmar International Ltd. for CSR Ltd.’s sugar unit in 2010.

Bright Food Chairman Wang Zongnan aims to have as much as 30 percent of total sales from overseas market in five years and has been looking for foreign assets in sugar, dairy, wine, food distribution and manufacturing industries.

Funds advised by CHAMP, Roy Manassen, and members of Manassen’s senior management team will own the rest of Manassen Foods, which makes Albatros bread and Harringtons chocolates.

The deal is pending regulatory approvals and Bright Food executives will visit Australia in late August for an official signing ceremony, according to the statement. Bright Food is conducting the deal through its subsidiary Shanghai Sugar Cigarette and Wine (Group) Co., it said.

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and UBS AG advised Manassen. Nomura Holdings Inc. advised Bright Food, according to the statement.