Australia's most popular honey producer sweet on Chinese market

SYDNEY - Australia's best known honey brand appears set to target the Chinese market following a $145 million takeover bid by Sydney and China's Hong Kong based private equity firm Wattle Hill.

With offices in Sydney, Beijing and Hong Kong, Wattle Hill specializes in Australian businesses seeking to capitalize on the Chinese market.

Company co-founder Albert Tse, who is also the husband of Jessica Rudd, the daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, told Fairfax media on Monday that Capilano had "super exciting" prospects in China and elsewhere in Asia.

"Capilano has a range of premium brands that I think the Chinese and other Asian consumers would really be enjoying," Tse said.

"The focus will be on delivering innovative products with therapeutic and digestive health benefits in demand by Asian and Chinese consumers," Tse said.

Wattle Hill has partnered with Roc Partners for the bid which saw the Capilano stock price surge by around 30 percent on Monday.

Capilano managing director Ben McKee said he believes that the bid would allow the company to build up a global-scale business.

"We're at a stage where our business has been growing over recent years, and now the export markets that we're entering into, like China and so on, take a fair bit of investment," McKee said.

"Getting our brand known and our history and our company and the quality of our products, and the therapeutic credentials of some of our products known in China, is going to take some investment."

A meeting for shareholders to consider the offer will be held in November.