Coles expects its acquisition of two state-of-the-art automated milk processing facilities from Saputo Dairy Australia will be completed in the first half of next year after the competition regulator gave its blessing.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced on Dec. 1 it would not move to block the $105 million (US$70 million) deal first announced in in April between Coles and the Australian subsidiary of Canadian diary giant Saputo Inc.
The facilities are in Laverton North, Victoria, and Erskine Park, New South Wales (NSW). Both are close to Coles distribution centres.
Each has the capacity to process 225 million litres of milk a year and they are predominantly used to process Coles Own Brand two and three litre milk.
Coles chief executive Leah Weckert said the supermarket giant was pleased with the ACCC’s findings.
“Once completed, the acquisition of these state-of-the-art facilities will enable Coles to improve security of our milk supply and supply chain resilience and allow us to continue to build on the strong relationships we have developed with our dairy farmers,” Ms. Weckert said.
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