Keeping Aussie Brands in Australia

..... Keeping Aussie Brands in Australia
Introduction | Rosella | Four'N Twenty

In the midst of the foreign takeovers of major food giants and the consolidation of the wine sector, Australian companies are vying to keep Aussie brands in Australia and Australian owned.

The buyout of Rosella by Stuart Alexander & Company, was welcomed by the federal government and corporate Australia alike, a demonstration of our desire to keep our brands Australian owned, and the most recent buy-back has seen our most popular brand of meat pie return to Aussie hands.

Rosella
At the end of last year Stuart Alexander (Australia) & Co Pty. Ltd brought Rosella back to Australian Shores.

A statement by Hon Mark Vaile MP, then Federal Minister for Trade, commenting on the purchase, said:

An Australian food brand icon, under foreign ownership for almost 40 years, is once again an Australian owned brand…

Mr. Vaile said he was delighted the Rosella brand, a name synonymous with Australia for more than a century, had been bought by an Australian company, Stuart Alexander.

"Gary Browne and his team at Stuart Alexander are to be congratulated for achievement of bringing an Australian icon back under full ownership.

"It would appear the Rosella brand purchase is the first time an Australian company has bought back an Australian icon company previously sold to foreign interests," said Mr Vaile.

Arnott's Biscuits and Peter's Ice Cream have been sold to foreign interests.

Source: Government press release, Office of the Minister for Trade

Stuart Alexander & Co issued a statement saying:

"The opportunity to actually own an Australian icon like Rosella, which has a heritage as strong as ours, was one we just couldn't miss…

"We look forward to putting our experience and infrastructure to work for a brand that most Australians recognise as one of their own…"

Source: Stuart Alexander (Australia) & Co. Pty. Ltd

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Four'N Twenty
Four'n Twenty is back in Australian hands after Victorian-based Patties announced its takeover of the iconic food brand.

Below are some of the articles published in light of the much-welcomed win for Australian ownership:

Pie icon becomes Australian again
AAP
11 July 2003

ICONIC national food brand Four'n Twenty pies is back in Australian hands.

A brand synonymous with football codes across Australia, Four'n Twenty pies has been taken over by a family business based in Gippsland, south-east Victoria.

Patties Bakery announced today it had bought Four'n Twenty and other pastry brands Herbert Adams, Wedgwood, Great Australian Pies and Nanna's from American-owned Simplot Australia.

Patties managing director Richard Rijs, whose parents Peter and Annie started the business as a small Lakes Entrance cake shop in 1966, said the deal would triple turnover and increase staff numbers from nearly 200 to 300.

The projected annual turnover of $100 million was a far cry from the $100 his parents collected in the business's first week 37 years ago.

"We're fiercely Australian and even more fiercely regional, so we're excited to have Four'n Twenty and we're pretty excited about the quality of our workforce in East Gippsland," Mr Rijs told AAP.

He said Four'n Twenty had endured since its 1947 beginnings in the central Victorian centre of Bendigo through its "consistency and quality".

"The brand clicks with the market it's after: the young Aussie male," he said.
"We don't intend to change the image at all."

Mr Rijs said Patties spent $11 million upgrading its Bairnsdale plant to allow it to meet demand for its increased product range.

Four'n Twenty accounts for about 30 per cent of Australian pie sales.

Subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, it will give Patties nearly half market share.

Great Aussie bite bites back
Herald Sun
12 July 2003

Four 'N' Twenty pies are back in Aussie hands after almost 10 years of American ownership.

Gippsland-based Patties Pies has bought the famous brand, which is synonymous with Australian rules football.

The deal with US food giant Simplot for an undisclosed sum was signed yesterday.

The move has been hailed as a win for Australian ownership…

Patties' managing director Richard Rijs said he was delighted to return the popular brand to Australian control.

"We're just so proud we have been able to do it," he said. "It's going to be an absolute fillip for Bairnsdale, bringing a lot more jobs into the area."

Simplot managing director Terry O'Brien said the company had a new strategic direction that did not involve pies.

National Party leader Peter Ryan welcomed the move to Bairnsdale.

"Not only does it entrench Patties as a leading market player, it is also great news for jobs and regional development in East Gippsland," Mr Ryan said.

"It is a reversal of the trend that has seen numerous Australian icons fall into foreign hands."

Previous Australian owner Pacific Dunlop sold Four'N Twenty to Simplot in 1995 as part of a $460 million deal.

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