Street Talk

US giant KKR named preferred bidder at Aware’s $1b-plus chicken grower ProTen

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May 4, 2025 – 4.15pm

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ProTen, one of Australia’s largest chicken producers, is set to change hands after a hotly contested auction, delivering a major victory to its superannuation fund owner.

Street Talk understands private equity juggernaut KKR, in a deal led by managing director Andrew Jennings, ruled the roost with a bid around $1.3 billion for Aware Super’s ProTen, outpacing rivals specialist agriculture investors Roc Partners and Toronto-headquartered Northleaf Capital Partners by a decent margin.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.