John Wylie’s Tanarra Capital eyes yoghurt producer five:am

John Wylie’s Tanarra Capital is believed to be closing in on the yoghurt business five:am. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The business of high-profile investment banker and investor John Wylie is believed to be closing in on the yoghurt business five:am, owned by global consumer goods group PZ Cussons.

The company is understood to be moving towards a sale of its five:am yoghurt business to Mr Wylie’s alternative asset firm Tanarra Capital after it purchased the operation around 2014 for $88m from Australian businessman David Prior.

There is talk in the market that John Wylie’s investment firm Tanarra is in strong contention to acquire the operation which may now have sale price of about $12m, say sources.

The global group behind brands like Imperial Leather is said to be moving to offload the operation after the growth prospects for the yoghurt group failed to eventuate.

It comes after offshore reports last year that the London listed company had booked its second impairment charge against five:am and a charge against baby-food firm Rafferty’s Garden, totalling $US46.6m, with a decline in revenue in Australia for the year to May 31.

Five:am makes organic yoghurts in various flavours that are sold in supermarkets including the majors such as Coles and Woolworths.

Mr Prior built up the business from scratch in 2009 and in the year before it was sold to PZ Cussons, it had delivered a 250 per cent increase revenue over the previous year.

He went on the following year to buy the mothballed scotch distillery Bladnoch.

Tanarra has $1.7bn in assets under management and was among the parties bidding for the Lion Dairy and Drinks business that sold to Bega for $534m.

It has already made an investment in the dairy products space.

It owns Barambah Organics, which is an Australian certified organic dairy company that commits to sustainable farming, taking milk form its own three dairy farms to create premium products.