Vinamilk buys 70% stake in US dairy firm
The Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Co (Vinamilk) has received a licence to purchase a 70 per cent stake of Driftwood Co in California, at a cost of US$7 million.
Established in 1946, Driftwood Dairy specialises in producing and distributing products such as fresh milk, soybean and milk ice cream, and fruit juice for schools. It is the largest such company in California.
The company, which sells its products in California and abroad, has an annual revenue of more than $100 million. However, it has yet to turn a profit.
According to the HCM City Securities Corporation (HSC), Vinamilk is expected to help Driftwood turn a profit.
Vinamilk will expand production under the Driftwood trademark, and then after market research, it will launch Vinamilk-branded products.
This is the second foreign trade deal of Vinamilk after the company in 2009 poured VND179 billion ($8.52 million) into Miraka Company that specialises in whole milk powder from New Zealand for a 19.3 per cent stake of the business.
Miraka is an important raw-material supplier of powdered milk for Vinamilk.
This year, the company targets total revenue of VND32.5 trillion ($1.54 billion), after-tax profits of VND6.23 trillion ($296.66 million), and 34 per cent dividends.
After nine months, the company has reached 80 per cent of the year's profit plans.
Vinamilk has also announced that underprivileged children in Cam Khe District, northern Phu Tho Province, were provided with more than 33,000 free glasses of milk.
The milk donation programme is under the Viet Nam Rising Milk Fund launched by the Viet Nam Children Sponsoring Fund and Vinamilk. It aims to reduce the percentage of malnourished children nationwide.
In the last five years, the fund provided 20 million free glasses of milk worth VND75 billion ($3.57 million) to 286,000 underprivileged children nationwide.
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