Aiming to promote large-scale hog farms and safe meat production in
China
BEIJING & HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
COFCO Meat, a leading integrated pork company with a focus on providing
safe meat products to Chinese consumers, and a consortium of investors
composed of KKR, Baring Private Equity Asia, HOPU, and Boyu, announced
the formation of a strategic partnership. The consortium will invest in
COFCO Meat alongside existing shareholders to build and manage
large-scale industrialized hog farms and meat processing plants in
China. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
COFCO Meat, a subsidiary of COFCO Group, is a modern industrialized and
integrated food company engaged in hog and poultry production,
processing, distribution, and meat imports and exports. Established less
than five years ago, COFCO Meat is now one of the largest hog producers
in China. The large-scale and integrated operations enable effective
quality control to produce high-quality meat products to address
increasing food safety issues in China. The company markets its fresh
meat and processed meat products under the brands Joycome and Maverick.
According to the US Department of Agriculture and the China Animal
Industry Yearbook, China accounts for more than 50% of global pork
consumption, while large-scale farms with an annual output of 50,000 or
more hogs contribute less than 1% of the total domestic supply.
Large-scale farms are expected to increase more than six fold by 2020
given their food safety and quality control capability, as well as their
greater operational efficiency compared with smaller farms.
Ning Gaoning, Chairman of COFCO Group, said: “Meat is the single-largest
food category in China’s diet, and meeting this demand is a critical
link and a natural extension of our company’s value chain. Chinese
consumers demand of COFCO to promote the meat industry and provide safe
meat products. Bringing in the four strategic investors is an action by
COFCO to diversify our equity ownership and enhance our corporate
governance. We look forward to creating synergies among the shareholders
to improve the operations and management of COFCO Meat, and together
grow COFCO Meat into a much bigger actor in China’s meat industry. ”
Ma Jianping, Vice President of COFCO Group and Chairman of COFCO Meat,
said: “This strategic partnership brings in four world-class investment
funds to support COFCO Meat’s development. The investment is a
recognition of our past achievement and future potential, and we believe
these investors’ extensive global networks, professional local teams and
deep operational experience will accelerate COFCO Meat’s strategic goal
to become the leading provider of China’s safe meat products.”
“COFCO Meat is the right partner for the consortium with its strong
commitment to food safety, leading market position and outstanding
historical track record,” said Julian Wolhardt, Member of KKR. “We look
forward to fully utilizing our global resources and local expertise to
assist COFCO Meat in setting the bar for food safety in China. This new
investment will increase the supply of high-quality meat products in
China as the country witnesses an increasing demand for healthier food.”
Guy Cui, Managing Director of Baring Private Equity Asia, commented,
“The investment in COFCO Meat is an excellent example of the
consortium’s ability to invest in a diversified-ownership structure and
support an important policy imperative to provide consumers with better
food quality and safety. We look forward to working with the management
team at COFCO Meat and contributing to its future growth and
development.”
About COFCO & COFCO Meat
Founded in 1949, COFCO is one of the 53 pillar enterprises under direct
administration of the State Council, and has ranked among world’s Top
500, and led the Top 100 in Chinese food industry. With years of
endeavor, COFCO has developed from a solely trading company of grain and
oils into the largest supplier of diversified products and services in
the agricultural products and food industry in China. It is devoted to
realizing a fully integrated value chain from farmland to dining table,
establishing the urban complex with a fully integrated service chain,
and utilizing renewable natural resources to provide healthy and
nutritious food, high quality lifestyle and services, as well as
contributing to improve people’s living standards, social prosperity and
stability.
COFCO Meat Investment Co., Ltd. (“COFCO Meat”) was founded in 2009, and
is a subsidiary of COFCO Group. As a quality meat producer and one of
the main meat importers/exporters in China, COFCO Meat devotes itself to
providing safe and healthy meat to customers. To ensure food safety,
COFCO Meat effectively controls each process in the fully integrated
vertical value chain, including feedstuffs processing, livestock/poultry
farming, slaughtering, further processing, cold chain distributing and
marketing, and has already established a sustainable traceability
system. For additional information, please visit http://www.cofco-joycome.com.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across
multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure,
real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive
investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment
approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value
creation at the asset level. KKR invests its own capital alongside its
partners’ capital and brings opportunities to others through its capital
markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the
activities of its sponsored funds. KKR & Co. L.P. is publicly traded on
the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:KKR) and “KKR”, as used in this
release, includes its subsidiaries, their managed investment funds and
accounts, and/or their affiliated investment vehicles, as appropriate.
For additional information, visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com.
About Baring Private Equity Asia
Baring Private Equity Asia is one of the largest and most established
independent private equity firms in Asia and advises funds with total
committed capital of over US$5 billion. The firm manages a pan-Asian
investment program, specializing in companies requiring capital for
expansion, recapitalization or acquisitions. Baring Asia has been
investing in Asia since its formation in 1997 and has over 100 employees
located in offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Singapore,
Jakarta and Tokyo. The firm currently advises funds that have invested
in over 30 portfolio companies across Asia, which have 95,000 employees
and revenues of $25 billion in 2013.
About HOPU
HOPU Investments is a China-focus private equity firm with an
international investment platform. HOPU differentiates itself in its
proprietary deal sourcing channels established through its strong
capability to align China-foreign interests and strengths, and to
organize effective public-private sector cooperation, in its China-focus
off-shore investment strategy, and in its strong post-investment
management capabilities. To best leverage China’s continued growth and
reform, HOPU focus on consumer, natural resources, logistics &
infrastructure and financial services industries.
About Boyu
Boyu Capital is a leading Greater China-focused private investment firm
with over US$3.0 billion under management and offices in Hong Kong and
Beijing. Founded by a team of experienced investors and business
operators, Boyu Capital provides growth capital and strategic support
for industry-leading companies through long-term partnerships with
management teams.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20140605006520/en/
For COFCO:
Yu Xue
T:+86 10 85006598
E:yuxue@cofco.com
or
For
KKR:
Opal Ma — New Alliance Consulting International
T:
+86 21 3251 2730
E: opal.ma@alliance.com.cn
or
Fanny
Fang — New Alliance Consulting International
T: +86 10 6580 9577
E:
fanny@alliance.com.cn
or
Anita
Davis — KKR (Asia)
T: +852 3602 7335
E: anita.davis@kkr.com
or
Kristi
Huller — KKR (New York)
T: +1 212 230 9722
E: kristi.huller@kkr.com
or
For
Baring Asia:
Newgate Communications
Richard Barton
M:
+852 9301 2056
E: richard.barton@newgate.asia
or
For
Boyu:
Boyu Capital
Lan Qian
T: +86 (10) 5690 3766
E:
lqian@boyucapital.com
Source: KKR