One of the biggest animal feed manufacturers in Asia, its owners, Golden Springs Group, are said to be looking for a buyer for the feed company, with the deal valued at around $500m, sources told Bloomberg.
Interest in the company is expected from international feed producers, according to that news report.
Discussions about the nature of the sale are still underway, reported Bloomberg, citing sources. The holding company, which is owned by wealthy businessman, Peter Zuellig, hasn’t made a final decision on the amount of stake to be offered, according to one source. It has also considered other options for Gold Coin, including partnerships or an initial public offering (IPO), said the insiders.
A spokesperson for Golden Springs Group told FeedNavigator today that it would not be making any comments on such media reports “for the moment”.
Production capacity
Gold Coin has 20 manufacturing facilities in 10 countries; it started operations in 1953. It has a milling capacity of about 2.5 million metric tons per annum including feed for young animals and hatchery feed, premixes, concentrates and compound feed, as well as farm management and feed advisory services.
Its fish feed division includes shrimp hatchery and grow out feeds as well as a range for freshwater and saltwater fish species. The fish feed is manufactured in six mills across South East Asia. Gold Coin also owns the shrimp genetics company SyAqua.
In 2016, the feed giant entered a joint feed milling venture with CCK, an integrated poultry operator, in Malaysia.
South East Asia appeal
Agriculture-related deals have more than doubled in Southeast Asia in 2018 to hit $1.1bn, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
In early 2017, the global investment group, KKR, ploughed $250m into Vietnamese listed diversified company, the Masan Group. It purchased $100m worth of secondary shares of the Masan Group from PENM Partners, an independent Danish private equity company, and took a 7.5% stake, worth $150m, in the group’s feed-farm-fork business, Masan Nutri-Science.
Last October, French group, Neovia, signaled it was in the process of acquiring a new factory located in the Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam; it also said it was greenlighting several other investment projects in that Southeast Asian country.