Coles Gets Green Light for $105 Million Milk Plants Purchase

Coles expects its acquisition of two state-of-the-art automated milk processing facilities from Saputo Dairy Australia will be completed in the first half of next year after the competition regulator gave its blessing. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced on Dec. 1 it would not move to block the $105 million (US$70 million) deal first announced in in April between Coles and the Australian subsidiary of Canadian diary giant Saputo Inc. The facilities are in Laverton North, Victoria, and Erskine Park, New South Wales (NSW). Both are close to Coles distribution centres. Each has the capacity to process 225 million litres of milk a year and they are predominantly used to process Coles Own Brand two and three litre milk....