{"id":86670,"date":"2025-08-22T04:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T04:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86670\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T04:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T04:54:09","slug":"lactalis-to-become-australias-largest-dairy-company-with-3-4b-purchase-of-fonterra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/86670\/","title":{"rendered":"Lactalis to become Australia’s largest dairy company with $3.4b purchase of Fonterra"},"content":{"rendered":"

French giant Lactalis will become the largest dairy company in Australia with the purchase of Fonterra Cooperative Group for $3.4 billion.<\/p>\n

Fonterra has agreed to the sale of its global business to Lactalis, including its operations in Australia, Oceania, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The cooperative owns well-known brands Western Star butter, Perfect Italiano and Mainland cheeses.<\/p>\n

Fonterra managing director of global consumer business Ren\u00e9 Dedoncker said Lactalis saw “tremendous value” in the business and their brands.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Western Star\u00a0butter is\u00a0one of Fonterra’s brands. (Supplied: Fonterra)<\/p>\n

“It is those assets, the factories that make it and our people. But importantly it’s the milk that services those factories,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Without milk and farmers none of it works. It’s a prized asset and they’re acquiring all of that.”<\/p>\n

Lactalis is already the largest dairy company in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its chief executive Emmanuel Besnier said combining with Fonterra would allow the company to grow in key markets.<\/p>\n

“With this acquisition we significantly strengthen our strategy across Oceania, South- East Asia and the Middle East,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Fonterra has dairy factories in Victoria and Tasmania. (ABC Rural: Helen Taylor)<\/p>\n

‘Major threat’ to dairy industry<\/p>\n

Last month the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it would not prevent the acquisition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said the sale was unlikely to result in reduced competition for farmers selling their milk.<\/p>\n

But dairy farmer body Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) disagreed.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Mr Bennett says the sale will reduce choice and bargaining power for farmers. (Supplied: Peter Somerville)<\/p>\n

“Combining two major buyers reduces choice and bargaining power for farmers along a supply chain already dominated at the processor and retail end,” ADF president Ben Bennett said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a major threat to farmgate prices and the Australian dairy industry.”Nervous time for suppliers<\/p>\n

Paul Weller, a dairy farmer at Lockington in northern Victoria and the head of the Fonterra Australian Suppliers Council, said it had been an unsettling time for farmers who supply Fonterra.<\/p>\n

“When you’re a dairy farmer the most important business partner you have is the company that you supply milk to,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When that company is changing hands I fully understand the nervousness that some farmers would have.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lactalis said it will honour milk supply contracts when it acquires Fonterra. (ABC News: Warwick Long)<\/p>\n

Mr Weller said farmers’ current contracts would be honoured by Lactalis.<\/p>\n

“That’s been made quite clear and that was one of our things all the way through [that] the contracts will be honoured,” he said.<\/p>\n

Approvals still needed<\/p>\n

Fonterra and Lactalis need further regulatory approvals in Australia and overseas for the sale to go ahead.<\/p>\n

Fonterra’s dairy farmer suppliers in New Zealand will also vote on the acquisition later this year.<\/p>\n

The sale is expected to be complete in early 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French giant Lactalis will become the largest dairy company in Australia with the purchase of Fonterra Cooperative Group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,64692,28325,1295,64691,29488,64693,42981],"class_list":["post-86670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-butter","tag-fonterra","tag-food","tag-lactalis","tag-milk","tag-processing","tag-takeover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}