The near 90-year-old small goods business Tibaldi, which supplies ham, bacon, salami and the like to Australia’s major supermarkets, is up for sale in an auction run by EY’s Melbourne office.
Street Talk can reveal EY has started shopping the meats manufacturer to potential trade and private equity buyers, making an initial eight-point pitch ahead of a two-round auction.
The pitch, seen by Street Talk, said the business was on track to report $167 million in revenue and $12.7 million EBITDA in the 2022 financial year, representing 29 per cent a year earnings growth over the past four years. It said the company had about 300 employees. [The numbers were to be confirmed by a pending vendor due diligence, EY told interested parties.]
EY’s eight points started with Tibaldi’s place as a “domestic leader” in the local smallgoods market and its blue-chip customer base including supermarket majors Coles, Aldi and Woolworths, Costco and major fast-food chains.
It told potential buyers the company had a “well-known brand and reputation” built up over 85+ years, gross margins better than domestic and offshore peers, diversified channels to market and established manufacturing facilities.
It also said there was a senior management team “with a proven track record of driving growth” and strong partnerships with farmer suppliers.
The flyer stopped short of naming Tibaldi, instead using a code name; however, it was clear to industry players exactly who EY’s dealmakers were talking about.
Private hands
Tibaldi has two private company shareholders, according to filings with the corporate regulator. They are Stepa Pty Ltd (owned by Stephen and Paul Moss) and Deriand Pty Ltd (owned by Deirdre and Andrew Ridder). The two Mosses and Andrew Ridder are its only directors.
The process comes amid a wave of deals in the pork sector. Macquarie Capital is running an auction for the country’s largest pork producer, Sun Port, while Brazilian giant JBS signed a $175 million deal to acquire Rivalea last year. Tibaldi takes pork and other raw meats and turns them into small goods.
Private equity has a strong pedigree in a similar business in the region. Affinity Equity Partners formerly owned smallgoods bigwig Primo, while Adamantem Capital has sausages business Hellers and Pacific Equity Partners is in piemaker Patties Foods.
JBS Australia is the biggest player in the local cured meat and smallgoods manufacturing market, with an estimated 37.2 per cent share, according to IBIS World, ahead of George Weston Foods (11.3pc) and Bertocchi (5.4pc).
Extracted from AFR
