Freedom Foods is set to acquire well-known muesli producer Popina Foods for AUD$35 million.
Popina Foods currently sells Arnold’s Farm muesli and the range of Goodness Superfoods breakfast cereals, porridge, muesli bars which all include health functional food ingredient ‘BARLEYmax’ wholegrains developed by the CSIRO. The ‘BARLEYmax’ ingredient was developed as a valuable innovation using barley to create a high fibre content cereal product (especially in levels of soluble fibre) to aid in health issues such as diabetes, digestion, weight and cholesterol management.
Popina Foods was first established in Melbourne in 1983 by its CEO Arnold May.
The company website says it is the largest contract manufacturer of muesli based cereals and snack bars in Australia. It currently exports to Singapore, China, Japan, the Middle East and the UK. Popina has approximately 100 staff and operates from 10, 500 square metres of factory space in Melbourne.
Freedom Foods, which owns Australia’s Own Organic, Almond Breeze and other brands, recently announced a AUD$65 million equity raising to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The funds will be used to buy Popina Foods and to fuel the company’s growth plan which includes developing a new UHT milk processing facility at Ingleburn, NSW with the objective to develop and expand with more product for China and other countries in the Asian region.
