Closure could be the next step for South Australian United Dairy Power (UDP) which has been placed into administration after unsuccessfully searching for a buyer.
The milk broker and dairy processor had continued to trade even though its new owner, Hong Kong-based private investor William Hui’s Five Star Food, went into receivership late last year.
It was hoped the business would be sold as a going concern, but last week Murray Goulburn announced it had acquired the Caboolture cheese brand and some processing equipment from the UDP plant at Murray Bridge, indicating that operations will cease.
In February last year, Five Star Foods bought UDP, one of Australia's largest privately-owned dairy processors, for $70 million.
Rabobank appointed receivers to Five Star Foods in November, but for UDP it was business as usual.
UDP began as a milk broker in 1999 but in 2012, it acquired Lion's Murray Bridge and Jervois Dairy processing operations in South Australia.
Around 100 workers are employed at UDPs two dated dairy processing sites, and if processing ceases, they will lose their jobs.
