'Not much will change at Ausnutria with the arrival of Yili'

Van der Meer says that Yili had been interested in participating in Ausnutria for a long time, but it was not immediately possible to acquire a stake in the company. That changed when Taiwanese shareholder Citec indicated that it wanted to get rid of its share. In addition to the interest of the old shareholders, Yili also acquires 90 million new shares.

The Dutch share (of Van der Meer) changes relatively little as a result of the transaction. It remains above 5%, he reports.

Additional network
Van der Meer mainly sees advantages in the arrival of the new shareholder. Yili is China's largest dairy company and covers a large part of the Chinese market. Ausnutria will soon also be able to use Yili's network for further sales of its products. This largely complements that of Ausnutria.

Ausnutria is strong in infant nutrition and continues to do relatively well in the Chinese market, but the company is also noticing that business is becoming more difficult. "We also feel the effects of the corona pandemic, lower purchasing power and a small number of children born in China," says Van der Meer.

The Dutch production base remains important
Although the Chinese government wants to become increasingly self-sufficient and Yili has its own production base in Northern China, the new shareholder also attaches great value to Ausnutria's production base in the Netherlands, according to the CEO. Both in terms of supply distribution and the quality of Dutch production.

Yili is sometimes referred to as a state-owned company, but according to Van der Meer that is incorrect. It is largely in private hands. The state interest is only 8%, he says.