BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Bright Food (Group) Co got approval from authorities to acquire Shanghai Industrial Holdings' (SIH) stake in dairy firm Bright Dairy & Food Co, the China Daily reported Tuesday.

    Bright Food, the parent company, plans to purchase 314 million shares or a 30.18 percent stake in its listed entity Bright Dairy from the Hong Kong registered SIH for 1.55 billion yuan, the newspaper said.

    Following the transaction, Bright Food, controlled by the local state-owned asset regulatory authorities, together with its another subsidiary Shanghai Milk Group, will become Bright Dairy's controlling shareholders with 65.45 percent stake, according to the newspaper.

    "The stake transfer will provide a clearer roadmap for Bright Dairy and help it to focus on its core business," said Liu Jinhu, an analyst with Sealand Securities.

    Wang Zongnan, chairman of Bright Dairy, said in July last year that the deal would help the company to optimize its resource distribution with the parent company.

    Bright Dairy, largely focused on the eastern China market, has lagged far behind its two bigger rivals Mengniu Dairy and Yili Industrial Group.

    The company saw its net profit drop 67.8 percent to 45.3 million yuan in the first half of 2009, while Mengniu and Yili posted 662 million yuan and 254 million yuan in net profit in the same period.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis