No yolk! Navis Capital puts poultry business up for sale, taps adviser
Asian buyout firm Navis Capital Partners is ready to fly the coop at Mainland Poultry.
Street Talk understands Navis has mandated corporate adviser Luminis Partners to explore exit options for its high-quality Kiwi egg producer and marketer, after six years of ownership.
Mainland Poultry is a vertically integrated operation whose ZeaGold brand is among the top sellers in New Zealand’s supermarkets. It also owns MainFeeds, which supplies nutrition solutions for hens, pigs and rabbits. Put together, the business is understood be making $NZ45 million ($42 million) in annual earnings.
Sources emphasised it is early days and Luminis dealmakers are expected to spend the coming weeks preparing to run a two-stage sale process with management.
Navis Capital boss Phil Latham has tapped Luminis Partners to test buyer appetite for his premium poultry producer. AFR
When it does hit the auction block, Mainland may draw a decent crowd of tyre kickers across trade buyers and financial sponsors – for two reasons. One, when Navis bought the business in 2017, it had to compete with Pacific Equity Partners, Adamantem Capital and a bunch of deep-pocketed Asian strategic parties that had expressed interest in the asset.
The second reason is that buyers have been willing to pay more than 10 times EBITDA for premium producers. Deals that fit the bill include Roc Partners’ purchase of broiler chickens producer ProTen, BGH Capital’s investment in chicken farm Hazeldenes, and Cooke Inc’s take-private of seafood business Tassal. Based on those transaction multiples, sources reckon Mainland Poultry could fetch a sale price above $400 million,
Under Navis’ stewardship, it has grown earnings strongly. Earlier this year, it ruled off a sale and
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