Bega partners with Dutch dairy giant in $2bn Fonterra bid

Bega has formed a consortium with a Dutch dairy giant in its bid to acquire Fonterra’s Australian food and consumer business.

Bega has formed a consortium with Dutch dairy giant FrieslandCampina in its thwarted bid to acquire Fonterra’s Australian food and consumer business.

The Bega-Friesland joint bid is preparing to go head-to-head with Japanese food giant Meiji Holdings and French conglomerate Lactalis in the race to snap up the $2bn package.

All three contenders for the Fonterra Australian assets submitted offers on July 4, however, as the offers aren’t binding, another round of bids will get under way in the coming weeks.

Lactalis — the world’s largest dairy processor — received informal merger clearance earlier this month from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, clearing a hurdle in its bid for Fonterra Australia.

The ACCC is yet to provide a similar ruling on Bega or the putative Dutch-Australian alliance with the Amersfoort, Netherlands-based dairy giant.

“We are aware of Bega’s announcement of its interest in acquiring Fonterra Oceania,” an ACCC spokesman said.

“Whether the ACCC decides to commence a public review (of Bega’s bid) depends on a range of factors, including the completeness of information provided by the parties, the risk of the proposed acquisition substantially lessening competition, and whether or not the proposed acquisition is purely speculative or hypothetical.”

National Milk managing director Scott Briggs said FrieslandCampina had a sizeable foothold in southeast Asia, growing its presence in several booming markets during the 2010s.

“It makes sense for FrieslandCampina to team up with Bega because FrieslandCampina is already established in southeast Asia in the areas which encompass some of the Fonterra assets that Bega probably doesn’t want,” he said.

“Bega’s more focused on the domestic market; FrieslandCampina already acting in markets in southeast Asia where these Fonterra assets overlap.

“The green light by the ACCC for Lactalis probably puts them in the box seat for acquiring Fonterra but the ACCC is seemingly still open to discussions with Bega.”

Mr Briggs said despite Australia’s contracting milk pool, the nation’s legal and political stability meant agribusiness access remained attractive to foreign investment.

National milk production has fallen close to 8 billion litres over the past few Australian seasons, down from a peak of 11 million in the early 2000s.

Bega was contacted by The Weekly Times for comment.

Netherlands-based FrieslandCampina is eyeing Fonterra’s Australian assets

Last week, FrieslandCampina posted double digit percentage increase for the first half of 2025, achieving a 20.6 per cent rise in operating profit to €363m ($A650m), with a net profit increase of 25.7 per cent to €230 million ($A412m).

FrieslandCampina chief Jan Derck van Karnebeek confirmed a 19 per cent increase to the average milk price paid to European suppliers.

FrieslandCampina has been one of Europe’s largest dairy co-operatives since Royal Friesland Foods and Campina merged in December 2008.

The pre-2008 Friesland and Campina components were both the result of prior mergers of dairy co-operatives in the Netherlands during the 1980s and 1990s.