Keytone Dairy rebrands, signs $54m China deal

Keytone Dairy has simultaneously revealed its rebranding as Halo Food Co. and announced a $54.3 million deal with Chinese brand distributor Theland New Cloud Digimart to develop and manufacture its powdered dairy products in China. 

Halo Food CEO Danny Rotman said the new name and brand was a significant milestone for the ready-to-drink UHT milk, dry powder and protein bars business. It was designed to depict its brands in an international health and wellness market.

Pathway to China 

Primarily owned by the Alibaba Group, Theland is one of the largest importers of powdered and UHT milk products into China. 

As part of the agreement signed at the 2021 China International Import Expo, Halo’s New Zealand facilities will develop and manufacture Theland’s whole milk powder, skim milk powder and other formulated nutritional powders, which will be packaged in bags, cans, and PET jars for China. 

The two-year partnership has received initial orders worth $2 million, with manufacturing set to begin at the end of this month. 

Rotman said: “Theland’s ambitions, strategic priorities and calibre complement our company’s capabilities and first-class facilities in New Zealand, and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership. 

“We will support Theland’s growth ambitions with new product development and the ability to continue to scale across their formulated milk powders as the continue to expand their footprint in China.” 

Theland has sales capabilities in more than 25 Chinese provinces and is also owned by Shanghai Yunfeng Xinchuang Investment Management, backed by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Alibaba China Network technology, with the rest of the company owned by the Pengxin Group. 

Theland Asia-Pacific Region CEO Sheng Wenhao said the company chose Halo for the partnership as it matches its growth priorities. 

“Keytone’s [Halo] advanced facilities align with Theland’s objectives to provide high quality products and flexible services from green, clean, pristine New Zealand to Chinese consumers. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with [Halo],” said Wenhao.