US-BASED private equity group TPG Capital has won the bidding auction for one of Australia's two big poultry meat producers, Inghams Enterprises, in a deal reportedly worth between $850 million and $880m.
Chicken industry icon, 81-year-old Bob Ingham, whose family company generates about $2.2 billion annually in revenue from meat processing and value adding plants in 10 locations in Australia and New Zealand, put the business on the market last July.
The company's assets also include poultry farms, a piggery, stockfeed mills and the stockfeed business, Mitavite.
Inghams and rival NSW-based chicken meat supplier Baiada, which owns the Steggles, Lillydale and Bartter brands, dominate the Australian market controlling about 32 per cent and 37pc respectively.
Australia has nine mainstream chicken meat processors, with seven responsible for 95pc of production.
Ingham Enterprises was founded by Mr Ingham's father, Walter, near Liverpool in south western Sydney in 1918.
It developed rapidly when sons Bob and (the late) Jack Ingham made big strides by adopting US production ideas and using imported US genetics in the 1960s and '70s and building a close marketing relationship with Woolworths.
The company also expanded interstate buying other processing sites in the 1970s '80s and '90s.
Inghams, which also owns the Chickadee Foods and Sunnybrand Chicken names, now has a staff of almost 9000 staff in Australia and NZ.
Global equity firm TPG, which has other investments in Australia including energy supplier Alinta and health services provider Healthscope was able to outbid several other foreign equity rivals including US venture capital giants, Blackstone, Affinity and Chinese agribusiness company New Hope.
The Inghams purchase is being funded by a consortium of banks including Macquarie Group, ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank Nomura, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC who jointly lent up to $625m to the private equity group.
TPG described the purchase as "privilege to be buying a great Australian business from a great Australian businessman".
Mr Ingham said he had wanted to find a buyer who could ensure the company's customers continued receiving the highest level of service and employees would be well looked after.
"I am extremely proud of the business and its achievements," he said.
"It is exciting to see the business embarking on its next stage of growth under the ownership of TPG," he said.
