“Going where angels fear to tread,” is how Astral CEO Chris Schutte explains the company’s recent acquisition spree.
The company has taken advantage of the decimation in the industry to acquire cheap assets and add capacity to its operations, specifically in South Africa’s only three provinces showing positive growth – Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
Earlier this year it acquired a chicken producer, Thornhill Farm, as well as a chick hatchery from Argyle Farms in KwaZulu Natal which was in provisional liquidation.
Then it bought the abattoir assets of Darling Fresh Chicken, a Western Cape company at a liquidation auction.
Astral will use these assets to expand its Mountain Valley operation which is near Camperdown and increase its supply of fresh and value-added poultry segments in the KwaZulu-Natal market.
The rest of the Darling equipment will be used to expand capacity at Astral’s County Fair operation in the Western Cape.
In this regard the company recently concluded an agreement with Pioneer’s Quantum Foods that will see Quantum supply the County Fair abattoir with 1.15 million broilers a week. This will bring the number of birds processed at the abattoir to 1.6 million/week. READ MORE
Source: www.moneyweb.co.za
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