AFR | 4 May 2025US giant KKR named preferred bidder at Aware’s $1b-plus chicken grower ProTen
ProTen, one of Australia’s largest chicken producers, is set to change hands after a hotly contested auction, delivering a major victory to its superannuation fund owner.
Street Talk understands private equity juggernaut KKR, in a deal led by managing director Andrew Jennings, ruled the roost with a bid around $1.3 billion for Aware Super’s ProTen, outpacing rivals specialist agriculture investors Roc Partners and Toronto-headquartered Northleaf Capital Partners by a decent margin.
Sources said Citi and UBS-advised KKR was anointed preferred bidder last week after a drawn-out process and is entering into exclusivity to finalise the deal. It will make the investment from its Asia Pacific infrastructure fund.
ProTen is among Australia’s top chicken producers. Not-For-Syndication
ProTen is among Australia’s biggest chicken farmers, with the capacity to produce 174 million birds a year or about 25 per cent of Australia’s annual consumption, from poultry sheds across Australia. Aware Super first put ProTen on the block in June, calling Macquarie Capital’s bankers to run a multi-stage auction process for the $70 million EBITDA business, which it gobbled up for $350 million in 2018. But the sale was pushed until after the Christmas break.
Macquarie shopped ProTen as a $1 billion-plus infrastructure investment given its sprawling property portfolio – 62 broiler farms nationally and 720 poultry sheds, supplying to clients like Inghams. Bankers also positioned the business as well-positioned for M&A via bolt-on opportunities and geographic expansion after being fattened up for sale.
Andrew Jennings, Managing Director - APAC Infrastructure, KKR. Sydney Morning Herald
Street Talk understands Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners competed for the assets while Swedish giant EQT perused ProTen’s due diligence materials. However, the final bidders came down to KKR, a Roc-led consortium and a Northleaf-led consortium. Roc had originated the ProTen deal for Aware in 2018, managing the investment for the superannuation fund until last year and setting it on a course to grow revenue to $40 million to $150 million and double market share.
Jennings, who has just come off the $3 billion Queensland Airports deal, led KKR Infrastructure to the top of the pecking order. Past investments include electricity network owner Spark Infrastructure and New Zealand transport operator Ritchies Transport.
Roc was working with Rothschild while Northleaf had Gresham in its corner.
