Our company announced September 19ththat it's further building its business in Australia by acquiring a Sydney-based manufacturer of natural, ready-to-eat cereals.

Specialty Cereals Pty. Ltd. markets products under the Vogels, Wild Oats and Cerevite brands. Founded in 1988, the business had been privately owned.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Consistent with our strategy, we continue to pursue the right kind of opportunities to grow our business," President and CEO David Mackay says in a press release announcing the transaction. "The acquisition of Specialty Cereals provides Kellogg Australia with an entry into the fast-growing natural foods segment.

"By leveraging our own brand-building and innovation expertise and understanding of the cereal category, along with Specialty Cereals' leadership in the Australian natural foods segment, we'll drive the business's continued growth," David adds.

Specialty Cereals will continue to be headquartered in Frenchs Forest, a suburb of Sydney, reporting into Kellogg Australia, which is part of our Asia Pacific business.

David Denholm, President, Kellogg Asia Pacific, says the transaction cements a 20-year relationship between Kellogg and Specialty Cereals.

"Specialty Cereals was already a co-manufacturer and co-packer for Kellogg," David Denholm says. "Their brands are a great fit with the Kellogg Australia portfolio."

Specialty Cereals has 51 employees who work in a small manufacturing facility that is ideally suited to innovation and short production runs.

Kellogg has been doing business in Australia for more than 80 years. We opened our first plant in 1924, in Sydney. A second plant was constructed four years later in Botany. Today, we continue to operate a plant in Botany, along with another in Charmhaven. They not only produce products for Australia, but also for other Kellogg Asia Pacific markets such as New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia.