China Mengniu Dairy Co, the country's largest dairy firm by market value, confirmed Thursday that it will bid for a stake in the French dairy giant Yoplait, according to an unnamed source quoted by 21 Century Business Herald Friday.

This means that it will compete with several other dairy giants - including France's Lactalis, General Mills of the US, Switzerland's Nestlé and Mexico's Grupo Lala - for a stake in Yoplait. According to the source, Mengniu will join hands with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (KKR) of the US in bidding.

Bloomberg had previously reported that the French PAI Partners is planning to sell its 50 percent stake in Yoplait.

The bidders are expected to start the formal procedure in mid- December. Lactalis offered a price of 1.3 billion euros ($1.76 billion) in November, lower than the 1.5 billion euros ($1.99 billion) given by Yoplait's CEO. And media reports said that Mengniu's offering price will be no less than 1.3 billion euros.

Lucien Fa, CEO of Yoplait, said that all the companies can compete in fair conditions. He stressed that the company has to find resources in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and buy some distribution rights back from the distributors.

Established in 1964, Yoplait is the world's second largest liquid milk products brand.

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