Bubs Australia has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with joint venture partner Beingmate to manufacture Bubs Goat Infant Formula, made from 100 per cent Bubs Australian goat milk, in China.
As part of the MoU, Bubs will have the opportunity to acquire an ownership interest in one of Beingmate’s infant formula manufacturing facilities in Beihai, China. Support from Beingmate to secure a brand slot with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) will also be gained.
The SAMR helps oversee all manners of market control, such as streamlining regulation, intellectual property rights and issuance of business licenses.
Bubs founder and CEO Kirsty Carr said the team was confident the step up in the collaboration with Beingmate will provide invaluable support in securing the Bubs’ SAMR brand registration.
“Under our proposed manufacturing arrangement, Bubs China label Goat Milk Infant Formula will be produced in Beingmate’s Certification Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA) certified Infant Formula production facility in Beihai and be positioned as a premium product targeting China’s lower-tier cities,” said Carr.
“Beingmate has already had great success for many years driving distribution of their 51 registered infant formula products across their 30,000 strong Mother and Baby store network.
“Importantly, this new localisation strategy would provide Bubs with exclusive use of a China domestic SAMR brand slot and partial ownership in a registered facility in China, while fully retaining IP ownership of the Bubs brand and of eventual product proprietary formulations, which will be based on 100 per cent Bubs Australian goat milk.”
Beingmate will also partner to co-develop and produce Bubs Chinese label products in the region, as well as oversee the regulatory application process.
Bubs said it will withdraw its existing SAMR brand applications, which were previously made by Deloraine, and resubmit “differentiated super-premium formulations targeting consumers in tier-one cities”.
“The new applications would adhere to any amendments in the China GB-national food guidelines, expected to be published in the near future, and will be manufactured at its Deloraine CNCA certified production facility, pending SAMR product registration approval,” the company said.
Beingmate is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and is one of the largest Chinese-owned companies in the infant nutrition industry. It was among the first infant formula companies to obtain certification from SAMR and now has 51 products under 17 brands successfully registered by SAMR and sold nationwide in China.
