United Dairy Power (UDP), one of Australia's largest privately owned independent dairy companies, has successfully acquired Lion’s Murray Bridge and Jervois factories in South Australia.

Lion Dairy & Drinks managing director Peter Kean said its company is pleased that a sale has been secured for these two sites as planned, which means Lion’s people and their entitlements will transfer to the new owner.

“The sale of these assets is reassuring news for the local community, providing ongoing employment and economic activity in the region,” Mr Kean said.

Tony Esposito, managing director of Victorian company United Dairy Power, looks forward to taking over the company despite the fact that it's the company's first foray into cheese.

"We've spent eleven years supplying domestic product in liquid ingredients. We're looking at 80,000 tonnes of cheese being imported into Australia," he said.

"We feel it's a very strong area for us to go into and continue to be a domestic supplier of cheese as well."
The Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative (DFMC), which represents 1,220 farmer members from 780 dairy farms, welcomed the news.

DFMC Chairman, Mr Ian Zandstra, said the decision by Lion (formally called National Foods) in March this year to put the Murray Bridge and Jervois factories up for sale was originally of concern to the organisation as more than 120 DFMC farmer members in South Australia (SA) faced the prospect of uncertainty regarding a home for their milk and the price and terms of milk supplied.

“I welcome the news that negotiations have resulted in UDP establishing a manufacturing presence in South Australia.

“To have the factories retained as operating processing plants is a good outcome for the South Australian dairy industry and is a good outcome for DFMC farmer suppliers,” said Mr Zandstra.