Freedom Foods has been thrown a $200 million lifeline by the Perich family, who have pledged to invest in the company to help recapitalise the dairy processing business after negotiations with another investor collapsed.
The company, which owns a processing plant in Shepparton, has been in a trading halt since June 25 after it uncovered millions in out-dated stock throughout its warehouses leading to more than $590 million in write-downs.
Deputy chairman and non-executive director Tony Perich continued to stand by the company on Friday.
“We have been committed supporters of Freedom Foods for 15 years and, despite the difficulties of the past year, we continue to believe in its potential to be one of Australia's great food and beverage companies,” he said
In the past seven months, Freedom Foods has lost chief executive officer Rory Macleod and chief financial officer Campbell Nicholas who resigned at the end of June, sold their cereal and snack foods business to Arnott's for $20 million, and had a class action commenced against them by Slater and Gordon.
Funding from the recapitalisation, which will come from Perich-family investment vehicle Arrovest, will be used to pay down debt and provide the company with sufficient working capital to continue its financial and operational turnaround.
Interim chief executive Michael Perich said the business remained strong.
“Despite the challenges of the past 10 months, there remains a fundamentally strong business at the heart of Freedom Foods — a market-leading dairy and plant-based beverages and nutritionals business,” he said.
“With the ongoing support of Arrovest, our banks and other shareholders, we have the opportunity to rebuild the business and enable it to meet its full potential.”
Outgoing chairman Perry Gunner said the past year has been "difficult" and the company's results, "confronting".
“They were the result of numbers of factors going back several years — not all of them within our control, including the unpredictable impact of COVID-19,” he told the company's annual general meeting on Friday.
“In short, it has become clear that the growth the company has delivered in recent years has, in many parts of the business, not been profitable growth.”
Freedom Foods has been granted approval to extend its trading halt until February 28, with the company intending to apply for a further extension to April 30.
The proposed recapitalisation is expected to be completed by the end of April.