Comet Line Consulting is predicting a strong outlook for corporate activity in its latest quarterly review of mergers and acquisitions in Australia and New Zealand's food and beverage industry.
According to its review, twelve food and beverage mergers and acquisitions took place over the second quarter of 2018, with the largest deals including the acquisition of Australia’s third largest vitamins company, Nature’s Care by a consortium of Chinese investors, and NZ-based Tegel Group was acquired by Philippine-based Bounty Fresh Foods.
These two transactions confirmed the strong investor interest for Australian and New Zealand food and beverage businesses from international investors, Comet Line Consulting said.
“The outlook for corporate activity remains positive with several sale processes in the pipeline. Strong interest from domestic and international investors will continue to support deal activity in the food and beverage industry.”
Other deals announced during the quarter include the acquisition of Hollier Dicksons by PFD Foodservice, a $20 million investment by private equity firm ROC Partners into NSW oyster business, Australia’s Oyster Coast, and a merger between chicken processor Turi Foods and US-owned OSI Group.
The IPO market was subdued during the quarter with no new listings of food manufacturing or beverage companies, according to Comet Line.
The advisory company also said recently released economic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed a one per cent decrease in sales income for the food and beverage manufacturing industry in 2016/2017, mainly due to a six per cent decrease from the meat manufacturing category, which accounted for 30 per cent of industry sales income.
Five of the 11 categories that make up the food and beverage manufacturing industry reported negative growth in sales income in 2016/2017, according to ABS data.
