Saputo has announced that it has completed the sale of its Koroit plant to Bega Cheese for A$250 million.
Located in Western Victoria, the Koroit facility currently processes about 300ML of milk into bulk and retail butter, commodity and retail milk powders and growing up milk powder.
The all-cash transaction, which was originally announced in mid-July, was a key requirement imposed on Saputo by the ACCC as part of its takeover of Murray Goulburn earlier this year.
The consumer watchdog had asked Saputo to sell the factory in an effort to increase competition for milk in the region.
“This divestiture was required pursuant to the undertaking entered into with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in connection with the acquisition of the activities of Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited completed on May 1, 2018,” Saputo said in a statement.
Bega Cheese said it would welcome all of the plant’s 108 employees and has ruled out the possibility of any redundancies in the foreseeable future.
