Roc Partners sets the Pace for poultry deals
Roc Partners is now the owner of the country’s second-largest egg supplier in a deal sources say is worth some $350 million, Street Talk can reveal.
The local private equity firm has snapped up Pace Farm from founders Frank and Dianna Pace, who put the business up for sale last August after four decades in the family. They tapped PwC to chase private equity or strategic buyers to either take a stake in the company or buy it in full.
Pace Farm produces more than 16.8 million eggs a week, according to PwC’s pitch to potential buyers. Rick Stevens
The investment was made via Roc’s Premium Food Fund, alongside co-investors. Filings with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show Pace Bidco, the acquisition vehicle controlled by Roc, has been tinkering with the directors over the past week, appointing Roc partner Anthony Abraham, Roc managing partner Brad Mytton and Namoi Cotom non-executive director Sarah Scales. The same team has also taken control of Alimfresh, the entity owned by Pace Farm’s founders.
Sources said the deal was worth around $350 million, which positions it as one of the larger private transactions for the year. Roc declined to comment.
A pitch deck for Pace, first reported in Street Talk last year, said the company recorded about $300 million revenue that financial year, produced 1.4 million dozen eggs a week and had 31 per cent market share in Australia.
Nearly three-quarters of its sales were via major retailers including Woolworths and Coles, the documents said, and Pace Farm had invested more than $29 million in the business in the past three full financial years.
Pace has 32 sites across NSW and the ACT – including contractor farms – and 137 sheds housing more than 3 million birds. The
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