Saputo has
won the bidding for Murray Goulburn Co-operative which is Australia's largest
milk processor.
It said today
that it will take out a new bank loan to pay for the $625-million purchase.
If Saputo
decides to buy all of the remaining business, including debts and liabilities,
it would cost about $1 billion.
Murray
Goulburn got into financial difficulty when it aggressively pursued expansion
into Asian markets.
Saputo will
be the dominant dairy in Australia because it also owns Warrnambool Cheese
Butter.
It is by far
the largest dairy company in Canada at roughly twice the size of second-place
Agropur cooperative.
