Golden Circle has had to change with the times over the past few years

Tag : Canned Fruit Juice
If the takeover is approved by about 1000 fruitgrowers who own morethan 60 per cent of the company, Golden Circle will join Arnott'sbiscuits, Vegemite and Victa lawnmowers in the ranks of well-knownAustralian brands to be owned by foreign companies.
The company board, which includes three fruitgrower representativesamong its eight directors, has recommended that shareholders votein favour of the buyout, which requires the support of at least 50per cent of shareholders owning at least 75 per cent of the stock,at a meeting to be held in December.
Heinz Australia managing director Peter Widdows said the companyhad no plans to close any of Golden Circle's factories, whichemploy about 1000 staff in Brisbane's Northgate and at the OriginalJuice Co plant in Melbourne.
"Our plan is to retain the facilities. We don't yet have ajuice or canned-fruit business, so our plan is to operate thebusiness much the way as it is now," Mr Widdows said.
"We're buying it because it's a great brand and we think wecan grow it substantially."
The takeover offer of $1.65 a share is well above the $1 a sharebid from Coca-Cola Amatil that Golden Circle spurned last year andmore than four times the 40c at which Golden Circle shares traded on the National Stock Exchange on Friday.
Golden Circle was established as a co-operative business in 1947 byQueensland pineapple growers who wanted to maintain control oftheir product after it left the farm, but in recent years thecompany's unwieldy ownership structure has left it flat-footed andvulnerable.
The company was highly profitable until about five years ago, andone of the problems it faced was its co-operative ownershipstructure, which meant that up to 1000 people were voting oncompany strategy.
But Golden Circle chairman Phillip Cave said good progress had beenmade on a strategy to improve returns at the company, which lastmonth reported an annual profit of $3.5 million following combinedlosses of $27.5 million over the previous two years.
"We weren't looking to sell the business, but Heinz approachedus and the board has found the offer acceptable so now we have togo to the shareholders and ask them," he said.
Mr Cave also runs private equity firm Anchorage, which last yearpaid $35.5 million for a 35 per cent stake in Golden Circle, makingit the company's largest shareholder.
For the takeover to be knocked back, almost all of the 1000pineapple farmers and their descendants, who have been the majorshareholders in Golden Circle since its inception, would have tovote against it.
John Forster is a third-generation pineapple farmer from Beerwah,in the Sunshine Coast hinterland north of Brisbane, where mostpineapple growers are based. His father was involved in theestablishment of Golden Circle in the 1940s.
Mr Forster still has a large number of shares in Golden Circle, andhe said that while the Heinz offer looked good, it was too early tomake a final decision on whether or not to accept it.
"Golden Circle has had to change with the times over the pastfew years and if this is what it takes to continue in business, sobe it," he said.
Golden Circle started off processing pineapples into eitherpineapple pieces or fruit juices, but the company now produces morethan 500 products, including canned fruit and vegetables, fruitjuices, drinks, cordials and jams.
Golden Circle's website says it has been producing"great-tasting, nutritious food and beverages since 1947. Sowe've been part of families' lives for a long time. And it's goodto know we're still proudly Australian-owned."
News of the deal comes just four months after GUD Holdingsannounced it would sell the Victa lawnmower brand to US enginemanufacturer Briggs & Stratton for $23 million.
Arnott's went to the American Campbell Soup Company in 1997, whileSpeedo moved to Britain in 1990 and Redheads matches to Sweden in1998.