Foreign Owners

 

Who is Buying up AUSTRALIA?
Mitsubishi Group

The largest supplier of food and beverages to Australian supermarkets

Japan's giant corporate trading house Mitsubishi is the largest supplier of food and beverages to Australian supermarkets.

Via its subsidiaries Kirin, that owns Lion Nathan National Foods, it owns dozens of Australian brands that sit on our tables or are passed around at barbeques and parties every day. Lion Nathan National Foods employs close to 8,000 people across Australia and New Zealand and delivers revenues in excess of AU$5.6 billion.

Lion Nathan National Foods was created in 2009 when it combined the century old National Foods and brewer Lion Nathan into a single business. It also includes Berri Juices. Kirin rolled the dairy businesses together with brewer Lion Nathan after spending $3.5bn for the 54 per cent of Lion that it didn't already own.

Lion Nathan was previously traded on the ASX and NZSX, but after being 100% acquired was removed by Kirin Holdings.

So now, in addition to selling cars - now all imported from Japan since it closed its SA manufacturing division- Mitsubishi also sells beer, wine, milk, fresh dairy foods, juice, soy beverages and specialty cheeses.

Mitsubishi's Australian beer business - Lion Nathan - owns three out of the top five beer brands in the market as well as strong regional brands.

It also markets and distributes a number of international brands under licence, including Kirin, Beck's, Budweiser group, Heineken and Amstel. It employs around 3000 people.

National Foods was a proud Australian company created in 1991 through the amalgamation of several dairy and food related businesses with brand names and histories dating back to the 1800s and is still the only milk and juice business servicing the entire Australian market.

In 2009, National Foods bought Pura Milk to create a dairy giant that owns iconic brands including Coon cheese.

National Foods reported sales revenue of $3.56 billion and earnings before interest and tax of $165 million in 2009.

National Foods incudes the brand Dairy Farmers, owner of the Coon cheese brand, that was purchased by Mitsubishi/ Kirin in November 2008, a year after the acquisition of National Foods.

It is a market leader in fresh milk and produces a range of full cream, flavoured and modified fresh and UHT milks.

Not only that but National Foods owns Berri Fruit Juices.

In 2005, National Foods and the Berri Ltd juice business merged, combining leading juice brands into the portfolio.

National Foods also exports cheese to many countries throughout the world - as Australian products - while milk and fresh dairy products are exported primarily to the Asian region.

National Foods also operates in the soy beverage market through a joint venture with Vitasoy International Holdings of Hong Kong. A production plant in Wodonga, Victoria is supplying ESL and UHT soy drinks to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

National Foods has production facilities and sales offices in every Australian State and employs approximately 5,000 people.

National Foods retains Woolworths private label milk contract in all states except Queensland and ACT.

BRANDS OWNED BY MITSUBISHI / KIRIN / LION NATION / NATIONAL FOODS / BERRI DAIRY

MILK

Pura, Dairy Farmers, Moove, Farmers Union, Dare, Big M and Masters, Yoplait, Fruche, Thick and Creamy, YoGo and Divine Classic.

CHEESE

King Island, South Cape, Tasmanian Heritage, Mersey Valley, Tilba, Timboon, and Heidi Farm, Coon and Cracker Barrel.

BEER

West End Draught , XXXX GOLD, Tooheys New, Tooheys Extra Dry, Hahn Super Dry, Boag's Draught, Hahn, Hahn Premium Light.

JUICES

Berri, Daily Juice, Australian Fresh, Just Juice

WINE

Argyle, Bridgewater Mill, Croser, Knappstein, Mitchelton, Petaluma, Preece, Smithbrook, St Hallett, Stonier, Tatachilla, Two Tracks and Wither Hills

By using such Australian stars such as Kieren Perkins, Dual Olympic Gold Medalist, Mitsubishi attempts to portray itself as an Australian company.

Hard News on Soft Drinks

P&N Beverages Australia under offer from Japanese

Japan's Asahi Breweries Ltd has offered $364 million for Australian owned fruit juice maker P&N Beverages.

Asahi paid 15.1 times earnings for Schweppes and just 8.1 for P&N.

The purchase would make Asahi Australia's second biggest soft drinks maker and mean foreign owners control more than 70% of the Australian soft drink market.

The price is equivalent to half of what Asahi paid for Schweppes in 2009 after it was forced to bid against P&N.

The acquisition of P&N from founder Robert Peter Brooks is aimed at bolstering Asahi's global beverage business, the Japanese company said in a statement.

P&N also manufactures a wide range of private label beverages for grocery chains.

It employs 600 people across four manufacturing sites and five distribution centres.

The company started in Brisbane in 1992 by former Coca Cola executive Peter Brooks.

Brooks has made a number of attempts to increase the size of P&N Beverages in recent years. In 2007, P&N made an unsuccessful bid for fruit and beverages company Golden Circle, while in 2008 P&N attempted to bid for Schweppes with the backing of private equity firms KKR and Merrill Lynch Private Equity. Both times he was outbid by multinational companies.

The 73 year old said recently the deal would allow him to retire.

Asahi will require FIRB approval for the purchase as it bought Cadbury Schweppes Australia for $962 million in April 2009.

Asahi is also said to be interested in the beer operations of Australia's largest brewer Foster's Group along with USA's SABMiller.

Background on P&N

P&N Beverages (P&N) is Australia's "total beverage company". That's because it is the only beverage company to compete in all segments of the non-alcoholic and non-dairy beverage market.

In each of the segments it competes in, P&N markets high quality products that have developed instant brand recognition.

This ability to meet consumers needs and in many cases pre-empt consumer trends, has meant that P&N is a dynamic force within the beverage industry. For this reason, it is often referred to as the "beverage innovator". Furthermore this dynamism is coupled with a speed to market second to none.

* From P&N website

Brands (almost) Lost

Pop Tops, Juice Pops, Pub Squash, Extra Juicy, Brekky Juices, Waterford, Fuze, LAIce Cola, Frantelle Springwater, Diet Rite, Classic Hits & Traffic Stopper soft drinks, Fruit20, Wacky Water, Wild NRG, Tiger ginger beer, P&N Chilled, Farmer Joes, Maxi V, Smart Juices, Apple Time, Juice Stop, Summer Fruits, Revive.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been strict about deals that could negatively impact consumers and the P&N deal has the potential to create a highly-consolidated domestic drinks market in certain categories.

Should Asahi buy P&N, the foreign owners could hold 100 per cent of certain parts of the drinks market, like the orange soda segment.

Integrating Australia's number two and three drinks makers will produce an entity with 27-29 per cent of domestic market share, bringing it closer to industry leader Coca-Cola Amatil's 44 per cent.

Asahi's main domestic rival, Kirin Holdings , has also been busy snapping up assets in Australia. Kirin paid $US1.5 billion for Australia National Foods and Dairy Farmers, and in 2009 spent $US2.8 billion for control of the country's second largest beer maker, Lion Nathan.