Melbourne, April 3 - Australian & New Zealand food group Goodman Fielder Ltd. has dropped out of the bidding for Australian dairy processor Dairy Farmers, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday.
Dairy Farmers, which owns a range of consumer brands including Coon and Cracker Barrel cheese and Ski yoghurt, last week started a formal process for a possible sale, merger or joint venture.
The person said Goodman Fielder, which had previously signaled interest in the sale, was no longer part of the bidding, and had baulked at signing restrictive confidentiality agreements for the sale process.
Earlier Thursday, another person familiar with the situation said that National Foods, a unit of Japan's Kirin Holdings Co., is among bidders.