Bega Group Explained

Bega Group
Type:	Public company
Key People:	Pete Findlay (CEO)
Industry:	Dairy, Food processing
Subsid:
Location City:	Bega, New South Wales
Location Country:	Australia

The Bega Group is an Australian diversified food and drinks company with manufacturing sites in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. Founded as an agricultural cooperative in the town of Bega, New South Wales by their dairy suppliers, it became a public company in 2011 when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Close to half of shares publicly traded are still held by Bega's farmer-suppliers. It is currently one of the largest companies in the dairy sector in Australia, with a base milk supply in 2018 of approximately 750 million litres per annum.^[1]

Over half of the Bega Group's revenue (as of 2019) comes from their spreads, dairy consumer packaged goods and other grocery products, with their flagship Bega brand holding 15.7% of the Australian retail cheese market.^[2] The Bega Group's other major consumer and foodservice packaged goods brands are Vegemite, Farmers Table, Zoosh, Picky Picky, Tatura and Dairymont. The Bega branded Australia retail and foodservice cheese products are distributed by Fonterra under a long-term agreement. Just under a third of the Bega Group's revenue (as of 2019) was from exports. The cheese products are exported to 40 countries and distributed across Australia where they are available in most supermarkets and general stores.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Their other major business segments include bulk core dairy ingredients such as cheese, cream cheese and powdered milk (making up approximately 35% of revenue) and nutritional products produced under the Bega Bionutrients brand (such as lactoferrin and milk protein concentrate),^[6] which make up around 9% of revenue.

History

• 1850s – dairying started in the Bega Valley.^[7]
• 1899 – the Bega Co-operative Creamery Company was established by local farmers.
• 1900 – Bega Cheese's original factory was opened.
• 1960 – commissioned manufacturing facility for processing and packaging raw milk at Fyshwick, ACT.
• 1997 – cheese processing and packaging facility was built at Ridge Street, Bega.
• 1997 – joint venture established (now known as Capitol Chilled Foods) between Bega Cheese and Dairy Farmers (known as Australian Co-operative Foods) to process and distribute fresh milk and other chilled products in ACT and Southern NSW.
• April 2007 – acquired a 70% shareholding in Tatura Milk Industries Limited (Tatura Milk).
• October 2008 – purchased the assets and operations of De Cicco Industries in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg.
• March 2009 – acquired the cheese manufacturing facility of Kraft Foods at Strathmerton in Victoria.
• August 2011 – listed on the Australia Securities Exchange (ASX). Following the listing, Bega Cheese acquired the final 30% of Tatura Milk, which then became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bega Cheese.
• March 2014 – commissioned a life stage nutritional canning and blending plant in Derrimut, Victoria.
• January 2017 – acquired the Australian meals business from multinational food conglomerate Mondelez International with brands such as Vegemite, Zoosh and Bonox, a licence for the Dairylea and Snackabouts brands, and the licence to manufacture Kraft-branded cheese and peanut butter through 2017, as well as a manufacturing site in Port Melbourne, Victoria.
• February 2017 – sale of infant formula canning plant in Derrimut and one spray milk powder dryer in Tatura to US pediatric nutrition company Mead Johnson.
• December 2017 – acquisition of Peanut Company of Australia in Kingaroy, Queensland.
• July 2018 – purchase of Koroit milk drying and butter processing facility in Western Victoria from Saputo.
• February 2019 – closure of the Coburg cheese manufacturing facility.
• 2020 – Purple Hive Project by B Honey launched.^[8]
• November 2020 – purchased Lion Dairy & Drinks from Japan's Kirin Company for $534 million.^[9]

In 2019, the company won a legal dispute with Kraft Heinz over the packaging of its peanut butter.^[10] In 2020, Kraft Heinz appealed the case to the Federal Court of Australia, but was dismissed.^[11] In 2021, the two companies had reached a confidential settlement.^[12]

In 2020, the company raised significant funds to purchase Kirin's suite of dairy products, including Dairy Farmers and Pura Milk. In 2022, the Bega Group was formed, bringing together several brands including Bega Cheese, Vegemite, Dare Iced Coffee, Dairy Farmers, Farmers Union and Zooper Dooper.^[13]

In August 2023, Bega entered an agreement to acquire the businesses and certain assets of Betta Milk and Meander Valley Dairy from TasFoods Limited for $11 million. The deal also included a licence to use the Pyengana Dairy brand.^[14]

See also

Bega Dairy & Drinks

• List of cheesemakers
• List of oldest companies in Australia

Notes and References

1. Web site: Annual report . www.begacheese.com.au . 2019 . 9 April 2020.
2. Web site: Bega Cheese Limited Annual Report 2016. 2016. Bega Cheese Limited. 22 January 2017.
3. Web site: Bega Cheese goes from sleepy dairy co-op to $1b business. The Sydney Morning Herald.
4. Web site: Fonterra – Bega cheese. 11 February 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160210101439/https://www.fonterra.com/au/en/our+products/our+brands/bega+cheese. 10 February 2016. dead.
5. Web site: Bega Cheese Heritage Centre. https://web.archive.org/web/20160425083218/http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/south-coast/merimbula-and-sapphire-coast/bega/attractions/bega-cheese-heritage-centre. VisitNSW.com. 25 April 2016. 5 September 2019. dead.
6. News: Our story – Bega Bionutrients Lactoferrin Supplier. Bega Bionutrients Lactoferrin Supplier. en-US. 22 January 2017.
7. Web site: Data . www.accc.gov.au . 9 April 2020.
8. Web site: Bega launches the 'Purple Hive Project' to protect Australian bees via Thinkerbell. 28 July 2020.
9. Web site: Bega Cheese buys Lion Dairy from Japan's Kirin. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 November 2020.
10. Web site: Bega beats US food giant Kraft in peanut butter packaging battle. Younger. Emma. Reardon. Adriane. 1 May 2019. ABC News. en-AU. 30 October 2019.
11. Web site: Bega Cheese wins legal stoush against US food giant Heinz over peanut butter labelling. Jasper. Clint. 14 April 2020. ABC News. en-AU. 13 June 2021.
12. Web site: Dispute over peanut butter branding to cost US giant $9 million. Somerville. Peter. 3 June 2021. ABC News. en-AU. 13 June 2021.
13. Web site: 24 November 2022 . Bega Group rolls out major new-look corporate rebrand . 30 January 2023 . Convenience & Impulse Retailing . en-US.
14. Web site: Noack . Georgina . 30 August 2023 . Australian cheese giant Bega Group buys homegrown Tasmanian dairy brands in historic $11m deal . 2 September 2023 . News.com.au.