Murray Goulburn acquires Australian pizza cheese brand Caboolture
In a letter to its 2,500 supplier owners, Gary Helou, managing director, Murray Goulburn, said the dairy had acquired the Caboolture brand and some equipment from United Dairy Power (UDP).
Caboolture produces a variety of branded cheeses, including shredded mozzarella, diced pizza cheese, Cheddar, Romano and Pepato, for the food service industry.
"The strategic integration of the Caboolture brand into our growing food service business will strengthen MG's position in this segment," said Helou.
"The acquisition of the Caboolture brand forms part of our strategy to diversify our portfolio to higher value dairy foods, with the goal of providing sustainably higher farm gate prices to MG suppliers," he added.
Melbourne-based UDP acquired the Caboolture brand and two dairy plants in South Australia in January 2012.
UDP will seemingly retain ownership of the plants in Murray Bridge and Jervois.
Initial public offering
Last week, Murray Goulburn, Australia's largest dairy cooperative, unveiled plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of a unit trust.
The IPO, which Murray Goulburn plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), is part of a proposed new capital structure designed to raise AU$500m.
The AU$500m raised by the proposed capital structure would be investing in "world leading manufacturing and supply chain capabilities to improve efficiencies and increase market reach in key growth categories including consumer cheese, dairy beverages and nutritional powders," said Helou at the time.
