Chinese dairy giant Yili acquires New Zealand's Westland

China's Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Company Limited announced Thursday the completion of the transaction of the acquisition of Westland Co-operative Dairy Company Limited, New Zealand's second-largest dairy co-operative.

Yili Group's wholly-owned subsidiary Hong Kong Jin Gang Trade Holding Limited and Westland announced the news at an equity transfer ceremony held at Auckland Museum. The event marked the official completion of Yili's acquisition of Westland.

Yili Group. [File photo: IC]

Yuefeng , Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand,said this acquisition proves once again that China and New Zealand have been sticking to pioneering vision and spirit in the history of bilateral relations.

"It also gives great confidence to Chinese investors who are looking for opportunities of cooperation in New Zealand. The choices we make today will not only influence our own development, but the long-term development of our relations and the benefit for our people," Huang said.

"The potential of China-New Zealand economic and trade cooperation is more than traditional cooperation. It can be extended to areas such as infrastructure, high-technology, new energy and climate change. With our joint efforts, more and more successful cooperation will be right in front of us in the near future," Huang added.

Zhang Jianqiu, CEO of Yili Group, praised this deal as marking a significant breakthrough in the global expansion of Yili's brand. "This great achievement combines quality, technology, resources and market and is an essential milestone for Yili's 'Dairy Silk Road', building a 'Dairy bridge' across the Pacific Ocean and restructure the dairy industry landscape with the theme of 'World Integrally Sharing Health'," Zhang said.

Pete Morrison, Former Chairman of the Board of Westland Dairy Company, said the deal is the best for shareholders, business, staffs and the communities." Jin Gang's ownership provides confidences, security for our farmers, and the families, and our regions. Through this processing, all of our farmers have been treated equally and all will be treated equally in the future. This is much appreciated. We are pleased with the fairness principle. I know the farmers, and we will help Yili achieve the long-term goal, to become the most attracted, healthy food provider in the world," Morrison said.

"It is an exciting vision, and it is exciting to make it happen. It is truly a win-win situation. The Process of acquisition has been a changeling one, but you will focus on achieving and the outcome. It is the best for our shareholders, for the business, for our staffs and the communities," he added.

Founded in 1956, Yili Group has developed over the past 60 years to become the largest dairy enterprise in China by market share and in 2018, Yili continued its lead setting a new industry record with revenue of nearly 80 billion Chinese yuan in 2018 (about 11.2 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.32 percent from 2017. Yili Group also provides the broadest range of products available in the Chinese market, with more than 100 million Yili products and over 37 billion packs of liquid milk, yoghurt, cold drinks and milk powder enjoyed by consumers every day.

Yili has frequently taken the initiative to deepen global industrial cooperation in recent years, and has built a supportive, comprehensive resource, innovation and market system in regions where the dairy industry is highly-developed such as Asia, Europe, America, and Oceania.