CHINA’S Bright Food (Group) Co. has agreed to buy Australian dairy company Mundella Foods through its Australian subsidiary, expanding the Shanghai-based conglomerate’s overseas reach and boosting its exposure to the growing dairy market.

    Manassen Foods, the Australian company that Bright Food bought in 2011, has signed an agreement to buy Western Australia’s Mundella, Bright Food spokesman Pan Jianjun said Tuesday.

    The terms of the deal have been decided but the transaction value will be finalized once Mundella’s 2013 financial results are available, Pan said.

    Interest in Australian dairy assets has grown due to surging sales in Asia of both traditional products such as milk and cheese and for high-tech nutraceuticals and probiotics.

    A takeover battle for the country’s oldest dairy producer, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Holdings Co., has been one of the most hotly contested in recent months, as Canada’s Saputo Inc. attempts to outbid local dairy companies Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. and Bega Cheese Ltd.

    Bright Food owns four Shanghai-listed companies including Shanghai Jinfeng Wine Co., Shanghai Haibo Co., Shanghai Maling Aquarius Co. and Bright Dairy & Food Co. (SD-Agencies)