Meiji sells China dairy business to Shanghai AustAsia Food

Japan's Meiji Holdings is selling its dairy and B2B units successful China to Shanghai AustAsia Food.

The woody covers Meiji's drinking beverage and yogurt operations, including afloat ownership of its accumulation sites successful Tianjin and Suzhou.

Meiji already holds a 15.85% involvement successful AustAsia Group, the genitor institution of the buyer.

In a filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday (21 July), Meiji said it had addressed imaginable "conflicts of interest", appointing outer experts to guarantee the "fairness and transparency" of the deal.

The Tokyo-based nutrient institution volition clasp the intelligence spot tied to its yogurt portfolio on with definite brands.

Its manufacturing works successful Guangzhou is besides excluded from the sale.

The transaction is valued astatine up to 320m yuan ($47.2m).

The last merchantability terms volition beryllium adjusted based connected the nett assets of the people companies and different presumption specified successful the stock transportation agreement, Meiji added.

Meiji (China) Investment, the holding institution for the businesses being sold, reported a nett nonaccomplishment of 1.04bn yuan for the twelvemonth to December, compared with a nonaccomplishment of 490m yuan a twelvemonth earlier.

At Meiji Dairies (Tianjin), gross astir doubled to 131m yuan successful 2025, though the portion inactive posted an operating nonaccomplishment of 50 cardinal yuan.

Meiji Dairies (Suzhou) moved from a 22m yuan operating nett successful 2024 to a 100m yuan operating nonaccomplishment successful 2025.

Meiji said it volition redirect resources toward different parts of its concern successful China, including chocolate.

The transaction is expected to beryllium finalised by the extremity of the year.

Meiji besides intends to onslaught a abstracted trademark licensing statement with the purchaser for a constricted scope of products implicit a fixed period.

For the twelvemonth ended 31 March, Meiji's radical nett income accrued 1.7% to Y1.17tn ($7.2bn).

Profit attributable to owners of the parent, however, plunged 31% to Y35.1bn, driven by a impairment losses linked to its China operations.

Meiji offers a scope of dairy products similar food and crystal pick alongside beverage and yogurt. Its portfolio besides features cocoa and gummy confectionery, positive a dedicated pharmaceutical division.

"Meiji sells China dairy concern to Shanghai AustAsia Food" was primitively created and published by Just Food, a GlobalData owned brand.