Page 74 - Food&Drink magazine November-December 2022

YEAR IN REVIEW
COLES SELLS FUEL, CONVENIENCE BUSINESS Coles Group announced its plan to sell its fuel and convenience retailing business to Viva Energy for $300 million and leases, saying the leases represented an $816 million liability on its FY22 balance sheet.
Currently the two companies own and operate 710 Coles Express branded sites in an alliance that was due to end in 2029. The sale will transfer Coles’ share to Viva, and is expected to be completed by H2FY23, subject to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Foreign Investment Review Board approval.
PAG ACQUIRES PATTIES AND VESCO
Patties Foods and Vesco Foods look set to be acquired by APAC private equity powerhouse PAG. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies’ combined revenue is more than $600 million.
PAG already has a large local footprint in Australia and New Zealand with Craveable Brands (Red Rooster, Oporto and Chicken Treat) and chicken processor Cordina Group.
FONTERRA KEEPS
AUS BUSINESS
Fonterra said it would retain its Australian operations after the release of FY22 results. The co-operative had a “good year” despite increased costs from supply chain.
FY22 results demonstrated that Fonterra’s decisions relating to product mix, market diversification, quality products and resilient supply chain, meant the co-op was able to deliver
both a strong milk price and robust financial performance in a
tough global
operating environment.
NORCO DROPS 170 JOBS
Norco, said it would have to retrench 170 employees after failing to secure the financial support it was seeking from the federal government for its flood recovery. It said 240 jobs may go without adequate funding.
A spokesperson told Food & Drink Business the company welcomed the fact the federal and state governments were committing close to $60 million to businesses in the Northern Rivers.
One of the joint state and federal funding programs was the Anchor Business Support Grant Program NSW, which would provide funding to flood-affected large businesses to help them return to operations and support employment. Norco was one of six recipients and allocated almost $36.7 million.
MAGGIE BEER SELLS
ST DAVID
Maggie Beer Holdings (MBH) announced Goulburn Valley Creamery signed a binding, unconditional Share Sale and Purchase Agreement for dairy asset St David Dairy for
$1.6 million.
MBH announced in May it was
looking to offload dairy assets after a strategic review deemed them non-core assets.
Goulburn Valley Creamery said it would invest in the business and
brand. SDD was sold as a going concern with all staff (and
entitlements)
transferring with the business.
Norco GM manufacturing Adrian Kings (l) and CEO Michael Hampson.
MAGIC VALLEY CREATES LAMB PROTOTYPE
Australian food tech company Magic Valley created a cultivated lamb meat prototype free from animal by-products in what it said was a world first.
A small skin biopsy was taken from Lucy the lamb, whose cells were then grown in the company’s Melbourne lab where it was made into cultivated into meat using no other animal products.
The process takes the skin cells and turns them into stem cells called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The iPS cells can grow in an unlimited and scalable way and can also be made into muscle and fat, the main components of meat.
PERFECTION FRESH ACQUIRES TESS FRESH Perfection Fresh acquired Tess Fresh, a processed and packed fruit and vegetable company, to expand its convenience and ready-to-eat capabilities.
The two
companies have
collaborated for some
years, with Perfection
Fresh saying the
acquisition would enable Tess Fresh’s operational capability and expertise to be expanded nationally through Perfection Fresh’s national scale, retail customer relationships, and consumer and product understanding.
Perfection Fresh CEO Michael Simonetta said the deal was part of the company’s next phase of growth.
MARS WRIGLEY INVESTS BIG IN BITE-SIZED
Mars Wrigley will spend
$25.5 million on its Ballarat facility to expand production, increase sustainable packaging efforts and drive operational efficiencies, building on
$30 million committed last year to expand chocolate manufacturing. The latest funding will roll out across the next
12 months on innovation projects within its Bitesize portfolio, improving its raw cocoa and melted chocolate production, increasing the site’s manufacturing capabilities, as well as accelerating its local sustainable packaging efforts and finding greater operational efficiencies.
Mars Wrigley Australia general manager Andrew Leakey said the latest investment reflected the company’s commitment to make the majority of its product portfolioinAustralia. ✷
Magic Valley team (l-r) Paul Bevan, Jacob Goodwin, and Andrew Laslett.
74 | Food&Drink business | November-December 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au