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Australia Clears Approves Lion Dairy, Drinks Sale To Chinese

By  |  February 23, 2020

Australia’s competition regulator has given its tick of approval to the $600 million purchase of Lion Dairy and Drinks by China’s Mengniu Dairy Company, rejecting concerns about reduced milk market competition in Victoria’s Gippsland region.

Mengniu, already a key stakeholder in Burra Foods, is planning to buy Lion’s nationwide portfolio of raw milk processing facilities, two of which are located at Chelsea and Morwell in Gippsland.

Mengniu, through another Chinese subsidiary, has an indirect interest in Burra Foods, which also has a milk processing plant at Korumburra in Victoria’s South East.

Late last year Mengniu also bought the Bellamys Organic dairy business in Tasmania and Victoria for $1.5 billion.