Parmalat spreads its game

Parmalat said the deal was part of its strategy to grow its Australian and export activities and gives the company a strategic footprint in the west.

Parmalat's global headquarters in Italy is understood to have paid about $117 million (79m euro) for Harvey's WA and NSW processing assets.

"With this transaction, the Parmalat Group strengthens its position in the Australian market, broadening its geographic footprint and becomes a fully national player," a company statement said.

The acquisition would also further improve Parmalat's export capability, taking advantage of Harvey's 20-plus years of export contacts.

Harvey Fresh, based in south west WA's Harvey district, is a family company established in 1986 as a fruit juice processing venture, now producing fresh and long-life lines.

It first exported cloudy apple juice to Asia in 1988 and now sends a variety of fruit and vegetables juices to export markets.

Harvey also specialises in producing fresh and ultra heat treated (UHT) milk dairy products, including flavoured and lactose-free milk lines, and packs milk for the Brownes label and milk and juice lines for Coles supermarkets.

In 1999, the company diversified into making its own Harvey River Bridge Estate wine from grapes source within WA's cool climate Geographe region and now packs house brand wine labels, too.

Harvey Fresh's significant juice beverage business was expanded further with the purchase of the Nugan Group based at Griffith in the NSW Riverina in 2012, picking up a big fruit and vegetable product customer base and more than 12,000 square metres of production and coolroom facilities.

The company has two production facilities at Harvey and Hanwood employing about 250 staff, plus 80 hectares of orchards and last year recorded revenue of about $168m.

Parmalat, one of the world's biggest dairy processing businesses, particularly in the UHT and yoghurt markets, has had a foothold in Australia since buying the Victorian border processing operation Haberfields Dairy at Albury-Wodonga in 1996.

Two years later it outbid National Foods to buy Brisbane-based Pauls for $436m, also giving it dairy plants in Victoria at Bendigo and Rowville.

Parmalat has since moved into the Sydney market, buying the Dairy Farmers' Lidcombe plant and the Perfection brand.

Parmalat, originally Italian-owned but bought by French group Lac- talis in 2011, also has operations in Europe, Latin America, North America, China and South Africa.