Guangzhou China Feb. 17, 2011 – Bright Food, the parent company of Bright Dairy revealed that the company plans to acquire the France-based yogurt processor Yoplait by France's media, but one executive of Bright Food denied this report on 15 February 2011. By contrast, Mengniu confirmed its intention to acquire Yoplait on 9 December 2010.
Though Bright Food denied the report, experts believed that the company had the plan to acquire Yoplait, and Bright Food just expected to acquire Yoplait by keeping a low profile, as Bright Food failed in its oversea expansion several times in 2010.
Both Mengniu and Bright Dairy are the two main yogurt processors in China, and their sales revenue ranked 1st and 3rd in domestic yogurt market respectively in 2010. And the two companies plan to expand their yogurt business in 2011. Mengniu acquired Junlebao Dairy – the 4th ranking yogurt processor in China in November 2010 (Please refer to Dairy Products China News Vol.3 December Issue, p6, Mengniu Acquires Junlebao Dairy), while Bright Dairy launched its Momchilovtsi yogurt nationwide in December 2010, one aim of which is to compete with Mengniu and Yili, as the products can be sold at ambient temperatures alongside UHT products (Please refer to Dairy Products China News Vol.4 January Issue, p14, Bright Dairy Rolls Out Momchilovtsi).
Oversea acquisition is one way for domestic dairy processors to expand their business, especially domestic consumers' confidence about domestic dairy products hit by new negative news once again in China. Therefore, the competition between Mengniu and Bright Dairy in the acquisition of Yoplait will be intense as estimated.
Source: CCM International