Victorian company Primary Opinion, owner of Maggie Beer Products, buys iconic SA dairy B.-d. Farm Paris Creek

VICTORIAN company Primary Opinion, owners of Maggie Beer Products, have moved to acquire another iconic South Australian business, B.-d. Farm Paris Creek.

File photo of Ulli Spranz with cows on her property at Paris Creek, near Meadows.

• August 2017: Primary writes down value of loss-making Maggie Beer business
• May 2016: Maggie Beer sells stake in business

VICTORIAN company Primary Opinion, owners of Maggie Beer Products, have moved to acquire another iconic South Australian business, B.-d. Farm Paris Creek.

Primary Opinion, an Australian sharemarket listed company, has signed an agreement with founders Ulli and Helmut Spranz to buy the dairy business for an equity price of $34 million.

B.-d. Farm Paris Creek is Australia’s largest biodynamic-organic dairy processing company based in the Adelaide Hills since 1995.

After migrating from Germany in 1988, the duo started with 40 cows on their Fleurieu Peninsula land.

They are recognised as pioneers in biodynamic and organic farming methods, which have helped build a strong business that makes premium milk, cheese, yoghurt and butter.

The dairy operation was expanded last year to boost processing capacity from 10 million litres to 30 million litres in an attempt to boost exports, which was supported by then 26.5 per cent South Australian shareholder Beston Global Food Company, also a publicly listed company.

Beston sold its stake in the company in April to focus on its own dairy business, also agreeing to sell its Wellington dairy farm to the Spranz family.

B.-d. Farm started looking at “strategic options for the company going forward” in June and subsequently roped in Melbourne advisory firm M&A Partners to find a suitable buyer for the business.

“We chose Primary Opinion because throughout the sale process the Primary Opinion team ... consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to growing the company’s organic milk supply, investing in the B.-d. Farm Paris Creek brand and upholding the principles and culture of the B.-d. Farm business,” Ulli Spranz said in a statement.

She and Helmut will stay with the business until it transitions to a new management.

Primary Opinion, now led by former Bellamy’s chief executive Laura McBain and chaired by Tony Robinson — also chair of Maggie Beer Products, expects to finalise the deal by December, subject to approval from its own shareholders.

Primary Opinion paid $15 million for 48 per cent of Maggie Beer Products — with Maggie Beer and her husband Colin taking home $5 million of that while the remaining $10 million was invested in the business.

In August, the Maggie Beer Products business posted a full-year loss of $2.13 million and had its value revised down by almost two-thirds based on expected future earnings.

Primary Opinion calculated its investment in the Barossa ice creams, quince paste and other gourmet foods business was worth just $5.5 million.

Primary’s own full-year loss increased to $10.3 million — including the Maggie Beer writedown — from $1.8 million in 2016.

“We believe that with a strong brand, sales and marketing focus, we can create a long term formidable Australian success story,” Ms McBain said.

Mr Robinson said the board of Primary was impressed with the opportunity to grow and develop the Paris Creek business.

“It harnesses the capability of the board of POP and complements our existing investment in Maggie Beer Products,” he said.

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