Japfa completes 25% stake sale in AustAsia to Meiji for $354.28m

It will continue to own 75% stake in AustAsia.

Japfa has closed the sale of 25% share capital in AustAsia Investment Holdings to Meiji for a total cash consideration of $354.28m (US$254.4m), according to an announcement.

This follows approval granted by shareholders and the satisfaction of conditions precedent. Japfa continues to own a 75% stake in AustAsia, which operates the group’s dairy farming business in China.

As part of the agreement, Japfa will continue to manage the farming operations in China, which will supply raw milk to Meiji on the basis of a 5-year rolling contract, renewable annually. Japfa will apply the proceeds of the transaction towards the repayment of the $352.31m (US$253m) term loan.

Japfa already supplies quality raw milk to Meiji for its downstream operations in China, where Meiji is active in the milk and yogurt business, as well as in the ice cream and confectionery business, both of which are steadily expanding.

Japfa CEO Tan Yong Nang said that the strategic partnership will enable the company to build AustAsia to become the largest independent raw milk producer in China and creates value for shareholders.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia