Danone will more than double its stake in China’s leading dairy company in a move aimed at bolstering the Chinese group’s image in a country obsessed by food safety concerns.
The French group bought 4 per cent of China Mengniu, China’s largest milk producer, last May when the two companies set up a joint venture to produce and sell chilled yoghurt products in the Asian country. Now Danone will spend €486m to raise that stake to 9.9 per cent.
Mengniu said that Danone’s stake would be combined with the holdings of Cofco, China’s largest state-owned food group, and Denmark’s Arla Foods, in a jointly owned group called Cofco Dairy Investments.