Kilcoy Global Foods buys Kyneton beef and lamb processor Hardwicks Meats
Australian family-owned Hardwicks Meats at Kyneton has been taken over by a global beef processor, majority owned by a Chinese company.
Billion-dollar global beef processor Kilcoy Global Foods has bought Victorian beef and lamb processor Hardwicks Meats.
KGF announced the deal, approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, saying it would create significant growth opportunities for Hardwicks Meats and the Victorian livestock
industry.
Hardwicks Meats has been a family-owned company for almost 50 years and has been located at Kyneton, in the state’s central highlands district, since 1979.
During a transition period, joint managing directors Luke and James Hardwick will remain with the company.
“Our parents Gary and Vikki founded Hardwicks Meats almost 50 years ago and today we are excited to join the Kilcoy Global Foods family,” said Luke Hardwick.
“Hardwicks is excited to be part of KGF’s $1.5 billion global nature-to-plate food solutions operation that supplies food service and retail customers across Australia, the United States, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.”
He said all 400 employees at the Kyneton plant would keep their jobs.
As for the Hardwicks Meats name, KGF said it has “no immediate plan” to change it, with similar subsidiaries across the world continuing to operate under founding names.
KGF started as Kilcoy Pastoral Company in Kilcoy, Queensland, founded by beef producer Damian Kennedy in 1953.
In 2015, China’s New Hope Group (through its New Hope Industrial Fund) acquired a controlling interest and renamed it Kilcoy Global Foods – which also included US meat processor and food manufacturer Ruprecht and Weidao Foods in China.
KGF Australian division president Jiah Falcke said Hardwicks was ideal for the company because of its high-quality products, service excellence and established national and export markets.
“There’s a lot of synergies between both businesses, Hardwicks is a tier 1 plant and Kilcoy is a tier 2 plant and both businesses sell 100 per cent Halal and MSA operations with KGF a premium beef processor while Hardwicks processes beef, lamb and goat,” Mr Falcke said.
He said the company would look to employ more staff at Hardwick’s as it expands.
“Hardwick’s commitment to existing local community partnerships will also continue,” said Mr Falcke.
“We are also fully committed to be an industry leader in sustainability and waste management with 80 per cent of electricity used at Kilcoy self-generated through waste bio generation and services 100 per cent of hot water demand on site.”
Hardwick’s will also use KGF’s patent-pending labelling system that allows scanners to read data tagged on product inside the box, which the company says is a breakthrough for the export market which is seeking traceable data on the nature and origin of product.
In Australia, the company operates the Kilcoy meatworks and distributes premium beef brands to a large domestic customer base and exports to more than 35 countries.
Its global headquarters are located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
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