It is headquartered in Dunsandel, Canterbury, with additional manufacturing sites in Auckland and Pōkeno, a Research and Development Centre in Palmerston North and offices in Beijing and in Shanghai.

[3] The invested money was used to build Dryer 2, a sophisticated processing plant that could produce high specification infant formula milk powders for multinational customers.

In 2016, Synlait lists on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) under code SM1[6]., and completes a $98 million capital raise.

This was followed by the official opening of the Synlait Research and Development Centre in Palmerston North, a partnership with Massey University and Food HQ.

[11] In 2023, Synlait announced its intention to sell its Dairyworks and Talbot Forest Cheese brands as the company refocuses its strategy toward advanced nutrition powders and foodservice products, and away from consumer dairy.

Following poor 2023 results where all key indicators were negative,[13] concerns about the company's ability to continue operations grew.

[15] Continuing in late 2024, Synlait ”slumped to large losses” after having unsustainable levels of debt, too much production capacity and significantly higher interest rates.