San Miguel wins National Foods takeover

(first posted 11 April 2005 23:05:00, updated 12 April 2005)

After several weeks of bidding against New Zealand's Fonterra Co-op, San Miguel Corporation, the largest food company in South East Easia is expected to win in its bid to acquire National Foods of Australia as Fonterra pulled out. In this process, Fonterra has sold its 1/5 share in NatFoods to San Miguel and will profit NZD 268 million.

San Miguel Corporation has recently increased its offer for National Foods AUD 6.40 or about USD 1.46 billion against New Zealand Fonterra's AUD 6.20.

National Foods Limited

National Foods is one of Australia's leading dairy products company. It sells fresh, modified and UHT milk under various brands as well as various flavours and brands of yoghurt and cheese. This firm also holds the Australia and New Zealand license for Yoplait yoghurt. According to the firm's website it has annual revenues in excess of AUD 1.00 billion or about PHP 42 billion.

San Miguel Corporation

San Miguel (Saint Michael in English) Corporation traces its routes in Hispanic Philippines and is known for its San Miguel beer which enjoys a monopoly in the Philippine beer market. It has diversified into related industries such as food processing and is the Philippine licensee of Coca-Cola. It has also invested in packaging and property. The Philippine government owns 41 percent of the food group.

San Miguel is on a buying spree. It has been buying companies all over the Asia Pacific region. It has recently acquired Berri Limited, Australia's largest juice company. I has bought an Australian brewer, J. Boag & Sons and a Thai brewer, Thai Amarit Brewery.

Fonterra Co-operative Group

Fonterra is probably the world's largest dairy exporter. It is also probably New Zealand's first and largest multi-national corporation. Since it is a co-op it is co-owned by about 13,000 New Zealand dairy farmers. According to its website, 95 percent of its production is sold overseas and it has present in 140 countries and territories. In Asia it retails milk under the Anchor, Anlene and Anmum brands. The company claims that it is the same size as Groupe Danone (France), Kraft (USA) and Unilever (Anglo-Dutch) in terms of its annual revenues while Nestlé is the largest dairy company in terms of revenues.

Sources:
San Miguel raises bid for Australia's National Foods. 07/04/2005. Stuff.co.nz (Fairfax NZ).
Brewer tops Fonterra bid. 07/04/2005. NZ Herald.
Fonterra quits National Foods battle - with $268m booty. 12/04/05. NZ Herald.
San Miguel anticipates National Foods takeover. 11/04/2005. ABC News Online.
San Miguel hikes bid for National Foods. 07/04/2005. INQ7 Money.
San Miguel wins battle. 12/04/2005. BusinessWorld.
"The Boss" Steers San Miguel Expansion. 12/04/05. XtraMSN-Reuters.
SMC wins bid for National Foods as New Zealand rival withdraws. 12/04/2005. Manila Bulletin.