FrieslandCampina acquires Chinese joint venture

FrieslandCampina acquired all of Chinese Friesland Huishan Dairy’s shares, a joint venture it co-created in 2015 with China Huishan Dairy. It will now become a subsidiary of the Dutch dairy company.

Accounting scandal Huishan Dairy

The Dutch dairy company had been looking to ditch Huishan Dairy, after the latter was involved in a major accounting scandal. This resulted in an enormous debt and put it on the brink of bankruptcy. CEO Roelof Joosten expressed his desire to buy out Huishan Dairy last summer, but he had to see whether Huishan Dairy would survive. According to the FD, the acquisition fee was not revealed.

Friesland Huishan Dairy was founded to sell children’s food in China, under the Dutch Lady label. It also manufactures tea and coffee milk in a production facility in the Shenyang area, in the Liaoning province.