Western Milling, Opal Foods sell stake in Central Valley Eggs

Central Valley Eggs is now owned by Hickman's Egg Ranch and Proterra Investment Partners.

(Photo by Andrea Gantz)
(Photo by Andrea Gantz)

Glenn Hickman, president of Hickman’s Family Farm has confirmed that in regard to Central Valley Eggs, “Proterra Partners, a private equity group based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, acquired the ownership interests of Western Milling and Opal Foods.”

Proterra Investment Partners is an alternative investment manager with a focus on private equity investments in the natural resource sectors of agriculture, food, metals and mining.

“Our fund’s investments reflect fundamental perspectives on the macro- and micro-economic trends driving the markets where we invest. Through an emphasis on strong local relationships and expertise, we aspire to provide unique opportunities for our investors,” Proterra Investment Partners' website says.

The Arizona-based Hickman’s Egg Ranch -- the 17th largest egg producer in the United States -- was one of the founding members of Central Valley Eggs, and still owns a third of the company.

Central Valley Eggs will continue to operate as a stand-alone facility with no changes to the numbers of employees or to the numbers of hens in production, Hickman said.

All the layers at Central Valley Eggs are cage-free.

According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, in April 2019, Central Valley Eggs announced the start of its second production site in California, with construction anticipated to be complete September 2021. The company’s first site has been at full capacity since early 2018. The second site will be in Tulare, California. The facility will hold 2 million layers plus a separate pullet facility with 400,000 pullets. This is slightly smaller than the first site, which holds 2.3 million hens and 750,000 pullets. The site will add 130 jobs to Central Valley.

As of December 31, 2019, its layer flock included 2.2 million hens.

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