Navis Capital acquires New Zealand’s Mainland Poultry

A majority stake in Mainland Poultry of New Zealand has been acquired by Navis Capital, a private equity company operating mainly in Southeast Asia.

LukaszTyrala, Freeimages.com
LukaszTyrala, Freeimages.com

A majority stake in Mainland Poultry of New Zealand has been acquired by Navis Capital, a private equity company operating mainly in Southeast Asia.

According to a report in New Zealand Herald, Navis explained its acquisition, saying it plans to “transform Mainland into the pre-eminent agribusiness in the Oceania region with strong export linkages into Asia.”

Mainland Poultry’s businesses include the country’s largest egg producer, with around a one-third share of the market. The firm’s managing director and co-founder, Michael Guthrie said that the cost of modernizing the housing for its 1.2 million layers may exceed the resources of its previous shareholders.

According to the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand, around 75 percent of the eggs produced by the country’s 140 farmers are from conventional battery cages, which need to be replaced by the larger colony cages or free-range systems by 2022 in order to comply with the Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare 2012.

Through its Dunedin-based egg business, Zeagold Foods, Mainland Poultry produces and markets barn-laid, vegetarian, and organic eggs, as well as processed eggs and egg mixes in chilled, frozen, and dried forms.

Mainland also provides compound feeds and animal health products through its MainFeeds business. This was founded by a group of poultry farmers under the name Poultrymen’s Cooperative Society Limited (PCL) in 1942 to produce quality livestock feeds, and to market eggs more efficiently in New Zealand.

Today, MainFeeds has national production capability, with feed mills in Otago, Auckland and the Manawatu. Together, they produce about 140,000 metric tons of feed annually, mainly for broilers, layers, pigs, rabbits, and dogs. MainFeeds recently acquired the NRM Levin (Manawatu) and Wiri (Auckland) mills. In 2008, Mainland Poultry sold the PCL ruminant feeds division to ABB Grain of Australia.

Other Navis Capital Partners acquisitions

Mainland Poultry is not the first investment by Navis Capital Partners into the poultry sector. In 2009, it acquired a controlling interest in Golden Foods Siam (GFS), one of the leading integrated chicken producers in Thailand, selling its interests to BRF of Brazil in a deal that was completed in January of 2016.

 

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