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Leading Asian agribusiness' takeover of Australia's largest food manufacturer approved

Xinhua, March 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's largest food manufacturer entered its first weekend as an Asian company on Friday after Asia's leading agribusiness group received final approval for a 1-billion U.S. dollar takeover.

Shares in Goodman Fielder, maker of some of Australia's best- known grocery brands, were suspended from close of trading on Tuesday on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges after the acquisition by Singaporean giant Wilmar International and Hong Kong-based investment company First Pacific was formally approved.

Goodman Fielder, which is the largest canola, soybean and sunflower oil supplier to Australian retailers, first attracted interest from the oils specialist Wilmar back in April last year.

Shareholders in the 100-year-old business voted on the foreign takeover last week, accepting 67 cents per share. The Federal Court of Australia confirmed the deal met the relevant foreign ownership regulations on Monday, before the deal became effective on Tuesday.

The Anti-Monopoly Bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce was one of a series of bodies that were required to sign off on the deal during the 10-month process.

Goodman Fielder recently announced a 21.9 million U.S. dollar net profit for the half-year ending in December 2014, a remarkable improvement on the 50.8 million U.S. dollar loss for the same period 12 months earlier.

However, falls in baking earnings of 54 percent and grocery profits of 13 percent reflected trading conditions in Australia and New Zealand.

"Trading conditions, particularly in the baking and grocery segments, continue to be challenged by significant pricing pressure across several of our core categories," said Goodman Fielder Chief Executive Officer Chris Delaney said on Feb. 11.

Wilmar and First Pacific said they have no plans to break up the company or change staffing levels.

Wilmar International runs a 92,000-strong workforce in 450 manufacturing plants across some 50 countries. Endi