Danone confirms National Foods stake

FRANCE / AUSTRALIA – French food group Danone confirmed yesterday that it has bought a 10.1% stake in the Australian dairy firm National Foods.

In a statement, Danone said that it bought the stake to “broaden its options in the Australian dairy industry”.

The announcement ended speculation as to who had bought the stake in National Foods after it said that ABM Amro said had bought the stake on behalf of a client. As well as Danone, Italy’s Parmalat and New Zealand Dairy Foods were also rumoured to be the buyer.

National Foods is Australia’s largest publicly listed dairy firm, with sales in 2001 reaching 580 million euro.

Also this week, Danone’s Spanish arm said that it expects to double its exports when its 96.2 million euro milk production plant near Valencia opens next week. The plant will export products to Portugal, Italy, Belgium and France.