Hamlet Protein acquired in tie-up between Goldman Sachs and Altor
The two investors said they have acquired the majority of the soy based protein producer from Polaris Private Equity and company founder Ole Hansen.
“While certain details still have to be firmed up, it is an equal ownership deal between the two partners,” Tor Krusell, communication spokesperson at Altor, told us.
He said the appeal of Hamlet Protein, which has production facilities in the US as well as Denmark, is the quality of the Danish firm’s product as well as the global growth opportunities the business offers.
Closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory requirements and approvals.
This is not Altor’s first foray into the feed sector: “We often align with other investment companies, particularly where we believe there would be complementary competences in such an alliance. For example, two years ago, we joined forces with Bain Capital to acquire Norwegian salmon feed producer, EWOS from Cermaq,” said Krusell.
Michael Specht Bruun, managing director in the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs, said the bank was impressed by the high value-add young animal feed platform the Hamlet Protein management team and employees had built.
He said Goldman Sachs would be looking to support the Danish firm’s impressive growth trajectory both “organically and through acquisitions.”
Niels Worning, partner at Polaris, said it had helped give Hamlet Protein, which now serves 50 countries, a strong market position in Europe, the US and Asia through developing its global sales organization and investing in capacity building.
Asian push
Chief commercial officer with the Danish company, Søren Bank, told this publication recently that Hamlet Protein was looking to leverage recent industrialization of pig production in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar and grow its share of the pig and poultry sector in well-established South East Asian markets.
Bank said the Danish firm would take advantage of the growing shift away from back yard production to more professional piglet farming in countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
“As emerging markets begin to move up the pig efficiency curve, we want to be there at the onset. We have already started feeding trials in those regions, and we will continue to produce locally sourced data to support market entry,” he said.
Hamlet Protein’s creep feed for piglets, he said, is a household brand in the more developed markets of South East Asia – a region where Bank said it intends to continue to expand: “We have seen rapid growth – double digit figures – in those markets over the past few years and anticipate greater market share from continuing to invest in the region.”
