AB Agri acquires UK cattle and equine supplement business
Greencoat’s products are well known in the UK and EU, including the flagship NAF Five Star brand, which is synonymous with equine supplements across Europe, said AB Agri.
“NAF Five Star is the UK’s branded market leader and it sponsors and supplies supplements to the British equestrian teams.”
The NutriLabs brand is the nutraceutical market leader in the veterinary channel in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, added the company.
Commenting on the announcement, AB Agri CEO, José Nobre said: “The acquisition of Greencoat is a key step in our strategic goal to expand our international animal nutrition and technology business into new and exciting areas. The animal supplements market is growing fast and Greencoat will bring its experience and expertise in direct-to-consumer sales and marketing, complementing our own deep understanding of the nutrition and care of horses and enabling us to develop our position in animal supplements.”
Greencoat, it said, will continue to operate on a standalone basis and will sell its products directly through its own existing network of specialist retailers and online channels.
Longer-term goals
AB Agri said its longer-term goal is to create a multi-species portfolio of products for the international supplement markets, built upon its wider technical expertise and innovation capabilities.
And it has been creating research alliances – late last year it established a tie-up with US biotech, Intralytix, to explore the use of bacteriophages in feed as an alternative to antibiotics and other drugs.
Meanwhile, it has also been focusing on innovation in feed supplements, with it looking to develop an algae-based feed ingredient supply in the UK.
A pilot plant in that respect is set to go live in Q4 2022. It will be based at British Sugar's Wissington site in Norfolk.
Pond Technologies Inc, which is supplying the system needed to grow the algae, signed a licensing agreement with AB Agri company, Livalta, last autumn in relation to setting up a viable operation in the UK.
Pond’s technology is designed to take CO2 emissions out of the air to produce high value protein, and in a debrief to its shareholders on the project in May this year, the Canadian company confirmed that initial engineering work on the project has been completed.
Monogastric feed mill
ABN, part of AB Agri, also revealed last year it was planning to build what will be the UK's "most efficient compound feed mill" for pig and poultry feed in the East of England.
Annual capacity for the factory, when online, is expected to be in the region of one million metric tons.
