Freedom Foods boosts stake in A2 Corp

NZPA

Thursday 21st July 2011

Australia's Freedom Foods Group says it wants to exercise an option to take a further 18.7 million fully-paid ordinary shares in Auckland-based dairy company A2 Corporation Ltd. Freedom Foods had an option to buy the shares at A11c each to boost its stake in A2 Corp, and A2 directors said the shares will be issued on August 3.

The company will pay $NZ2,599,094 -- the equivalent of NZ13.64c a share -- and will have a total stake, including partly-paid ordinary shares on issue, of 26.4 percent. A2 Corp has said it will commission its own processing plant in southwest Sydney next January to meet a growing demand for A2 milk in Australia.

The new $A7.5 million ($NZ9.23 million) factory will process 10 million litres of milk a year, some of it additional to 20 million litres of milk already supplied by contractors.

A2 Corp last year gave ASX-listed Freedom a 25 percent stake after its shareholders approved a deal to buy up the remaining 50 percent stake in Australia's A2 Dairy Products that they did not already own.

The deal gave A2 Corp exclusive rights for the production and sale of A2 milk products in Australia and Japan.

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