September 24, 2010

New Zealand's Tegel Foods nearly triples profits

Tegel Foods Ltd's profits jumped from around US$30 million to US$80 million under the ownership of Pacific Equity Partners (PEP).

PEP has bought the chicken producer from Heinz in 2005. The profit does not include gains from acquisitions made in the past five years.

Trade buyers were reported to have prompted equity owners to consider a sale of the asset. Greenhill Caliburn and Morgan Stanley were appointed to analyse the options.

Tegel Foods, which also operates a feed milling business, covers the breeding, hatching, processing, marketing, and distribution of poultry products across the North and South Islands.

The private equity investors sold a third of Tegel Foods to ANZ Capital in 2007. It bought the Tegel business for about NZ$250 million (US$182.18 million) to NZ$300 million (US$218.61) when several major New Zealand brands were being bought by private equities.