The contest for Huon Aquaculture has been hard-fought, with JBS shaking off competitors including Canada’s Cooke Aquaculture and a private equity firm to win control of one of the country’s largest salmon producers.
JBS, a Brazilian meat processing giant, will buy out the struggling Tasmanian salmon producer at $3.85 per share, a 61 per cent premium to the last closing price and equivalent to $425m, or $546m including debt.
JBS tapped Rothschild and Minter Ellison to advise on the transaction, while Huon had been working with Grant Samuel and Ashurst.
JBS is one of the largest meat processing companies in the world and is known to have been looking for acquisition opportunities in Australia.
It recently purchased pork producer Riverlea for $175m and is awaiting regulatory approval for that transaction.
It is understood to be planning to expand the Primo smallgoods business that it purchased in 2014 for $1.45bn from Affinity Equity Partners and Paul Lederer to include other branded convenience snack food products.
On Friday, Huon’s shares closed at $2.79, taking its market value to about $300m, a far cry from $415m when the business was listed in 2014 by founders and owners Peter and Frances Bender, who still have 53 per cent. AustralianSuper holds a 12.6 per cent stake.
At the time of the IPO, Huon controlled 40 per cent of Australia’s salmon market with rival Tassal Tasmanian Salmon controlling 50 per cent and Petuna seafoods holding the remaining share.
The company delivered a $95.3m loss for the six months to December after wrestling with challenges related to the pandemic.
The offer is a 61 per cent premium to its share price of $2.39 on February 26.
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