Major poultry operation up for grabs as sector heats up
One of the country’s largest privately owned poultry farms, in the NSW Riverina region, is up for grabs with a potential value well over $100 million.
The VOAG portfolio of 80 poultry sheds lies in the Tabbita district and comprises five self-contained farms of 16 sheds each, about 30 kilometres north-west of Griffith.
VOAG was founded only a decade ago by Robert Vojtkiv, expanding rapidly from its Victorian base through contracts to supply broiler chickens to Baiada, one of the country’s largest chicken meat processors.
The VOAG portfolio offering comes amid a surge of interest in the poultry sector, from private equity and institutional buyers especially.
In May, private equity player KKR found success with its $1.3 billion offer for Aware Super’s chicken producer ProTen, outpacing rival bids from specialist agriculture investors such as Roc Partners and Toronto-based Northleaf Capital Partners.
ProTen is among Australia’s biggest chicken farmers, with the capacity to produce 174 million birds a year – about 25 per cent of Australia’s annual consumption. Its sprawling property portfolio comprises 62 broiler farms nationally and 720 poultry sheds.
Since the ProTen deal was struck, Brisbane-based agriculture fund manager AAM has appointed corporate advisory shop Gresham Partners to find it an exit for unitholders in its Southern Cross Poultry Fund.
The $150 million fund acquires, holds, operates and develops chicken-farming assets. It has interests in 11 farms with 90 poultry sheds and produces 21 million chickens each year across 3507 hectares in South Australia.
Separately, Southern Cross Farms, a major free-range broiler chicken operation in South Australia, has hit the market with expectations around the $20 million mark after the privately owned business went into administration.
The VOAG portfolio also has considerable scale, covering more than 212 hectares. The poultry operations amount to more than 245,000 square metres of production area with a permit capacity of over 5.2 million birds per batch cycle.
“VOAG is a modern agribusiness investment that has been built for financial performance across every aspect of its asset base and business, from its economies of scale driving operational efficiencies, to its high-end equipment driving maximum productive performance,” said Colliers’ Jesse Manuel who is handling the sale with colleague Duncan McCulloch.
“The enterprise is a highly profitable, institutional-grade investment opportunity that has been developed with an emphasis on sustainability through investment in solar, water preservation and a continued focus on reducing its environmental footprint.”
