Fonterra opens shared services hub in Malaysia, its first outside NZ

PUCHONG: New Zealand-based dairy company Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd has invested RM3 million to open a shared services centre here to enable it to focus on expansion into key growth markets in Asia, the Middle East and China.
The shared services centre, known as Global Business Services Asia, will deliver a range of support services to the company’s business across the region.
“This will not only help streamline our current operations, but will also allow us to expand our business into new markets more quickly,” Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings told reporters after launching the centre here yesterday.
“Through this centre, we will be able to offer better time zone compatibility and language capability to our teams and customers across Asia,” he said, adding that the new facility will create 120 local jobs.
Spierings said Malaysia’s strong business environment and talented workforce with multi-language capability are some of the reasons that have driven the company to locate its first such centre outside New Zealand in this country.
“Malaysia is one of Fonterra’s eight priority markets and is a very important part of Fonterra’s global strategy,” he said, adding that it has been supplying dairy nutrition for more than 40 years in Malaysia.
However, Spierings declined to disclose the country’s contribution to the company’s bottom line.
“We will always be looking at where we should invest in our brands, people and operations, here in Malaysia and around the world. However, we have no firm plans in place for additional investment at the moment,” he said.
At present, Fonterra has 20,000 retail outlets, two manufacturing facilities and 680 employees here, producing 18.5 million packets of Fernleaf and Anlene products.
Cooperatively-owned Fonterra, which is the world’s largest dairy exporter with a market share of 17%, sold NZ$22.3 billion (RM63.8 billion) worth of dairy products last year.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, who attended the launch of the service centre, said the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations recently would provide opportunities for Malaysia and New Zealand companies to gain greater benefits.