The Foreign Investment Review Board has approved the $1.5 billion takeover of Bellamy’s by China Mengniu Dairy Company, although the infant formula maker will have to remain headquartered in Australia for a decade and be run by a majority Australian board.
The Treasurer also requires the Chinese buyer to invest at least $12 million in infant milk-formula processing facilities in Victoria.
“The conditional approval demonstrates our foreign investment rules can facilitate such an acquisition while giving assurance to the community that decisions are being made in a way which ensures that Australia’s national interest is protected,” Frydenberg said in a statement on Friday.
The board of the Tasmania-based company unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the proposal. The board denied it had anything to do with fast-tracking Chinese regulation to allow expansion in the country.
After a lengthy wait, Bellamy’s is still waiting on backing from China’s State Administration for Market Regulations to sell organic formula in stores.