Publicly-listed company Australian Dairy Farms (ADF) Group bought the Camperdown operation from Aussie Farmers Direct.

The ADF group has six dairy farms in the south-west and said its acquisition would create a vertically integrated dairy company.

It plans to increase the dairy company’s exports to Asia, particularly in other value added milk products.

The dairy company presently processes 18 million litres of milk a year. It produces milk for Aussie Farmers Direct customers in Victoria, NSW and South Australia and for Woolworths and exports chilled milk to Shanghai. It also produces yoghurts and butters, including organic butter. 

The ADF group said the acquistion was “a transformational transaction” that would create “the only ASX listed vertically integrated dairy company with fully-owned and controlled paddock-to-table-top and supermarket shelf operations”.

Its six south-west dairy farms have the capability to produce 15 to 17 million litres of milk a year.

The Camperdown plant has the capacity to process 36 million litres of milk a year and the ADF group said its purchase had the potential to double the group’s gross profit in the 2017 financial year.

 Aussie Farmers Direct chief executive officer Keith Louie said the company was proud to have resurrected the former Bonlac factory in 2010 after it had laid dormant for 10 years.

“We’re so thrilled that today, Camperdown Dairy provides work for 35 locals,” Mr Louie said.

“We also gave local dairy farmers another valuable and viable path to market for their milk.

“While Camperdown Dairy is a fantastic business and asset, we felt that the funds we had invested in the plant could be better used to develop growth opportunities for the broader Aussie Farmers Direct business.”

He said Aussie Farmers Direct would continue to be a major customer of Camperdown Dairy. 

The sale is expected to be finalised by the end of January.

The Camperdown Dairy Company is separate to Camperdown Dairy International, which plans to build a factory producing milk powder and infant formula on a site adjoining the Camperdown Dairy Company.