Bega Cheese seeks informal clearance for Fonterra Oceania bid as full asset sale looms

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(Reuters) -Australia’s Bega Cheese said on Monday it plans to seek informal regulatory approval for the acquisition of peer Fonterra’s Oceania business, even as the latter said it aims to sell its global consumer and integrated businesses, including Oceania and Sri Lanka, as a whole.

New Zealand-based Fonterra said in an emailed statement to Reuters that it was advancing a dual-track divestment process and was in talks with potential buyers, but did not provide further details.

Bega Cheese did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The informal review process Bega is seeking refers to a voluntary process that lets parties seek the Australian competition regulator’s view on whether a merger is likely to substantially lessen competition.

Last November, Fonterra announced plans to sell or list the Oceania and Sri Lanka units to sharpen its focus on core milk processing operations, with the divestment potentially valued at around NZ$4 billion ($2.41 billion).

In May, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) began an informal review of French dairy giant Lactalis’ proposed bid for Fonterra’s assets, even though Lactalis said it had not signed any deal with the firm.

Reuters reported in May that Lactalis, Japan’s Meiji and Canada’s Saputo were expected to bid for Fonterra’s global consumer businesses, including the operations and marketing of brands such as Mainland and Anchor butter, Kapiti ice cream and cheese and Anlene powdered milk supplement.

The sale included Fonterra’s Oceania and Sri Lanka businesses, spanning the full dairy supply chain.

($1 = 1.6595 New Zealand dollars)

(Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Vijay Kishore)