Twelve acquisitions in the first quarter of 2017 saw the year start off strongly, according to a review of corporate activity by Cometline Consulting.
Two transactions in particular stood out in the quarter, according to the authors of the report, David Baveystock and Ben van der Westhuizen.
“Bega Cheese acquired Mondelēz Australia’s Grocery Business for $460 million. The acquisition of the Mondelēz grocery business diversifies the income streams of Bega Cheese and reduces the reliance on the dairy sector.”
“The acquisition of Allied Mills by Pacific Equity Partners for approximately $317 million is also a stand out,” they wrote.
“PEP will integrate the Allied Mills business with the Pinnacle bakery business that PEP acquired in March 2015. The combined Allied Mills and Pinnacle bakery business is of sufficient scale for PEP.”
The IPO market was also active in the first quarter of 2017 with six new listings on the ASX, according to the report: Bubs Australia, Winha Commerce and Trade, Murray Cod Australia, Tianmei Beverage Group, Jiajiafu Modern Agriculture and Wattle Health Australia.
“An interesting feature of the new listings is the focus on the Asian and specifically Chinese market. Five of the six new listings are focused on the Chinese consumer or positioned to focus on the Chinese consumer in the future,” Baveystock and Van der Westhuizen wrote.
“Following a better than expected start to the year and with a pipeline of opportunities driven mostly by continued interest in Australian and New Zealand manufactured product from Asia, we expect transaction activity for the remainder of 2017 to be as strong or even exceed the levels achieved in 2015 and 2016.”
