Home Asia Pacific Asia Pacific: JBS acquires Australia’s Primo Smallgoods Group for US$1.25B

Asia Pacific: JBS acquires Australia’s Primo Smallgoods Group for US$1.25B

JBS has acquired the global operations of Australia’s Primo Smallgoods Group for A$ 1.45 billion (US$1.25 billion) in an all-cash deal that is still subject to approval from local regulators.

The Primo Group was created in 1985 and leads the Australian and New Zealand markets for processed products such as ham, sausages and bacon. It owns a number of brands such as Primo Smallgoods, Hans, Beehive, Hunter Valley Quality Meats and Primo Quality Meats.

The Primo Group has more than 4,000 employees and five production units, seven distribution centers and 30 retail outlets.

The company has forecast 2015 revenues (the July/14-June/15 fiscal year) of US$1.6 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$150 million.

JBS expects the transaction to provide about A$30 million in synergies, which would raise projected 2015 EBITDA to A$180 million.

“In line with our global strategy to increase exposure for high value added products and brands, the Primo acquisition, which involves the largest company in the sector with a number of leading brands, represents a major growth opportunity for our Australian business given the significant annual growth recorded by food products and the ability to drive Primo Group sales through the export market”, said Wesley Batista, JBS’ global CEO.

Previous articleEurope: The UTZ company’s linkable dolly wins award at Emballage 2014
Next articleAmericas: iSys Label, UniNet inks deal on distributing label printers