Navis agrees $360m sale of Golden Foods Siam to Brazil's BRF

BRF said in a statement that the acquisition is in accordance with its strategic plan to strengthen its brands, distribution and product portfolio around the globe. The deal still requires competition clearance from regulators in Japan and Germany.

Navis acquired GFS in 2009 for an undisclosed sum. The business was founded in 1997 and taken over by UK-based Grampian Country Foods Group in 2001, which was itself acquired by Dutch conglomerate VION Food Group in 2008. VION did not buy Grampian because it wanted exposure to Thailand, and in the wake of the global financial crisis, the parent was reluctant to invest in the business.

"[Grampion and VION] are quite large companies, so there was quite a bit of restriction on capital investments," Egbert Segers, CEO of GFS, told AVCJ earlier this year. "With Navis, it went much faster. We got much bigger into business, investment came in and that allowed us to grow the business to the level where we are today."

Early investments included a new cooking factory, which went online in 2011 and doubled GFS' capacity. More recently, the company introduced a new feed mill for its farming operation in order to improve vertical integration .

Output rose from 26,000 metric tons in 2010 to 43,000 metric tons in 2014. This has elevated GFS to the third-largest cooked chicken producer in Thailand, behind multinational Cargill and Charoen Pokphand Foods, a division of family-owned conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group. Thailand is the leading exporter of cooked chicken in Asia and the third-biggest in the world, behind the US and Brazil.

The company now has a presence in 15 markets globally following efforts to diversify the customer base. Having previously found success in Japan and the UK, GFS has built up sales and marketing teams to engage with underserved markets such as the Middle East, Korea, Europe and Southeast Asia.

BRF, formed through the merger of Brazilian companies Perdigão and Sadia in 2012, is responsible for 14% of the world's poultry trade. It operates in the poultry and swine, processed meat, dairy, margarine, pasta, frozen pizza and vegetable segments. Sales reached BRL29 billion ($7.5 billion) in 2014.

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• Topics
• Exits
• Consumer
• Industrials
• Southeast Asia
• Navis Management
• Exit
• Trade sale
• Southeast Asia
• Thailand
• Consumer