Officials at Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings say they will sell their Australian drink business to a dairy maker in the country.
Kirin will sell Lion Dairy and Drinks to Australian firm Bega Cheese for about 390 million dollars.
Last year, the Japanese company decided to sell the business to China Mengniu Dairy, but it gave up the plan in August. Kirin cited a low likelihood of gaining approval for the deal from Australian authorities. Relations between Canberra and Beijing were rocky over issues related to the pandemic and the political situation in Hong Kong.
Company officials say the deal will enable them to streamline its unprofitable overseas operations.
They plan to focus on their more promising medical and healthcare businesses.
