Bega Cheese’s long awaited takeover of the Vegemite brand was yesterday delayed by a computer virus.
In a statement to the stockmarket on Thursday night, Bega Cheese said the acquisition of Mondeléz International’s Australia and New Zealand grocery and cheese business scheduled for Friday is “likely to be delayed as a result of the outage of Mondeléz global IT network”.
“Bega Cheese and Mondeléz IT teams are working together to ensure that the delay is minimised,” the statement read.
Mondelez was revealed to be one of many companies across Australia to fall victim to a ransomware attack linked to the so-called ‘Petya’ virus this week.
The attack shutdown all of the company’s IT systems, reportedly affecting the Cadbury factory it operates in Hobart.
It was reported, local companies, services and individuals have been at risk of having their files locked and held to ransom if struck by the virus.
Bega Cheese’s Mondelez deal, first announced in January this year, includes taking ownership of brands such as Vegemite, ZoOsh and Bonox – and other products using the Kraft brand under license such as peanut butter, nut spreads and processed cheese.