“It is our milk after all”, once the slogan for Tasmania’s Betta Milk, could soon ring hollow for Tasmanians slurping down their morning coffee.
That is thanks to a pending multi-million dollar sale that would mark the first time Tasmania’s 70-year-old brand is scooped up by a mainland company — and force the Betta Milk Protection Squad into an early retirement.
See the ad below to understand that reference.
TasFoods Limited broke the news on Monday when it told the ASX it would be offloading both its Betta Milk and Meander Valley Dairy brands to Australian dairy giant Bega Cheese Limited for $11 million, subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The binding business sale contract also includes a perpetual, royalty free licence to sell milk and cream products under the Pyengana Dairy name.
“The sale … represents an important strategic step towards simplifying TasFoods and strengthening the company’s balance sheet,” TasFoods chief executive officer Scott Hadley said.
The company has been shedding brands in order to become profitable. Among those is Shima Wasabi, which it sold to Hillwood Berries in June.
In a seemingly unsuccessful dive into dairy, TasFoods bought Betta Milk in 2019 for $11.5 million, and Meander Valley Dairy in 2015 for $2.1 million – far more than the combined price of the pending sale.
However, Mr Hadley said it wasn’t a “like-for-like” comparison, and maintained TasFoods was getting more than it had initially paid.
“What we’re not selling is the land and the buildings here in Burnie, we’ve still maintained the site,” he said.
“We’ve also sold some other assets over the last 12 months … so when you look at it as a total package, we’ve actually realised more for the business now than what we paid for it in 2019.”
Mr Hadley said the dairy sales would leave TasFoods debt-free and ready to invest in its remaining Nichols Poultry and Pyengana Cheese brands.
“I think it should be seen as a positive that a big dairy company like Bega value and are really passionate about brands like Betta and Meander Valley,” Mr Hadley said.
“It’s testament to the great work of all the staff and Tasmanians that we’ve got this great brand and I’m confident that Bega will be a great custodian of the brands in the future.”
Bega Group’s chief executive officer Pete Findlay said he was “delighted” to add the brands to the Bega folio.
“Betta Milk is a fantastic regional brand that has been a household name in Tasmania for over 65 years and acquiring these brands supports our ambitions to become a great Australian food company.”
