A Canadian company’s proposed takeover of Murray Goulburn has been described as bittersweet by families already made redundant from an MG factory in Rochester.
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Saputo, the company that also owns Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, have offered $1.31 billion for all assets and liabilities belonging to MG.
The deal will not only require the approval of at least half MG shareholders, it must also pass the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The announcement came on the day of the company’s annual general meeting and just days before Maree Traill’s husband, whose time at MG’s Rochester site ended three months ago, was due to start work at a new job.
The timing was “ironic and bittersweet”, Ms Traill said.
She believed the town stood to benefit from the deal only if Saputo kept the factory operational. But it was not an outcome she was confident would eventuate.
Read more: ‘Gutted’ Rochester to farewell MG
“They may assess the 40-year-old cheese plant and decide its a lost cause. Who knows?” Ms Traill said.
Shire of Campaspe councillor Leigh Wilson, whose ward takes in Rochester, said the factory’s future would remain unclear until a deal was inked.
But he believed new owners would be more likely than MG to sell the asset. There were already other companies interested in acquiring the facility, he said.
“(The offer) just helps to build that confidence that something will happen in a more timely matter,” Mr Wilson said.
(The offer) just helps to build that confidence that something will happen in a more timely matter.
- Leigh Wilson, Campaspe shire councillor
Most redundant workers since found other work, like Ms Traill’s husband, the councillor said. But he was a aware of a “small number struggling, still looking for work”.
The town, however, was resilient, Mr Wilson said.
While the retail sector was experiencing some downturn, he believed the change was seasonal, with quieter winter months only just behind them.
“The resolve of the community is they don't want to see that site sit there idle.”