Milk producer to sell yogurt products with French dairy giant
China Mengniu Dairy, the mainland's largest milk producer, is forming joint ventures with Paris-based Groupe Danone, the world's biggest yogurt maker, to sell yogurt products in China.
Total investment for the three ventures would be about 1.6 billion yuan, Mengniu said yesterday.
Hong Kong-listed Mengniu said it would hold 51 per cent of the ventures and Danone 49 per cent. Mengniu said it would finance the deals from internal resources.
Pierre Couderc, the president of Danone for the Asia-Pacific region, said Mengniu had a nationwide distribution and sales network.
Mengniu posted a better than expected 39 per cent jump in first-half net profit to 343.43 million yuan, as increased sales, especially of higher-margin products, more than compensated for rising raw material costs.
