Pacific Dunlop seals ice cream deal
DIVERSIFIED Australian industrial group Pacific Dunlop has agreed to take a 50 per cent stake in China's largest ice-cream producer, Meadow Gold Investment Co.
The deal, part of the group's A$100 million (about HK$567 million) expansion of the dairy food business in Asia and Australia, will give Pacific Dunlop an interest in seven joint ventures in key Chinese cities.
The ice cream operations are in Harbin, Beijing, Liaoning, Tianjin, Xian, Chengdu and Nanjing. Three more ventures will be set up in Wuhan, Changsha and Shanghai within the next few weeks and more are in the pipeline.
Managing director Philip Brass did not disclose the exact size of the Meadow Gold deal but said it represented an ''exciting growth opportunity'' in a nation hungry for ice cream.
Pacific Brands Food Group, a subsidiary, would help Meadow Gold to develop a wider range of ice creams and provide technology, funds and marketing ideas.
Mr Brass said the $100 million investment in Asia and Australia would take the subsidiary into a new phase of strong growth over the next few years.
Half of the total investment would be slated for Asia, to help the food subsidiary establish its first foothold in the rapidly expanding Asian markets.
The rest would be spent on new technology and facilities to raise the group's capacity and efficiency in Australia.
The Asian expansion also involves the purchase of a 40 per cent stake in Thailand's General Pacific Foods Co, which has taken over the business of Chuchart Food Industries, owner of one of the country's oldest ice cream brands, Ducky.
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