Monde Nissin to scoop up dip maker Menora; Vocation enters third trading halt: Midday Roundup

Filipino food conglomerate Monde Nissin Corporation is set to acquire another Australian dip maker, Menora Foods.

Following Monde Nissin’s $115 million acquisition of Australia’s third-largest dip brand Black Swan in July 2014, the company is now in the final stages of a deal to acquire Wattle Valley Gourmet Dips’ parent company, Menora Foods, according to Fairfax.

Fairfax reports a number of private equity firms were also interested in Menora, which is also home to crackers brand Peckish, Chobani Greek Yogurt and Cobram Estate olive oil.

Menora was established in Melbourne more than 45 years ago and is Australia’s largest privately owned food marketing and distribution business.

Vocation enters third trading halt

Embattled training provider Vocation has entered a trading halt, its third since October, pending a company announcement.

“Vocation is seeking the trading halt to enable the company to complete certain financial reviews which are currently in progress,” Vocation announced yesterday.

It is expected the troubled company will announced its fourth profit downgrade in less than three months.

In November, a class action was launched against Vocation, claiming it had misled investors. Chairman John Dawkins quit the company the same month.

Vocation will commence trading again tomorrow morning, pending another announcement.

Shares down on open

Aussie shares have traded lower this morning, as local investor wait for the latest economic figures out of China.

“With no Wall Street lead, the market was always going to have a flat open,” said Tristan K’Nell, head of trading at Quay Equities.

“However, the index has lost some ground with weakness in the resource sector after production reports from Rio Tinto and Fortescue and continued commodity market volatility.”

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 14 points to 5295.1 points at 12.05pm AEDT. The Dow Jones did not open yesterday due to the Martin Luther King Jr public holiday in the US.