Swift Australia Acquires Tatiara Meat Company from Vion Food Group

Swift Australia (Swift) is a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS S.A., which is listed on the Brazilian stock exchange. JBS is the world’s largest meat processor with operations in Brazil, Argentina, Italy, United States and Australia.

18 Dec 2009 --- VION Food Group (VION) announced the sale of the Tatiara Meat Company (TMC) to Swift Australia. TMC is located at Bordertown South Australia and is a subsidiary of the listed company A. Moksel AG which in turn is a member of VION.

Swift Australia (Swift) is a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS S.A., which is listed on the Brazilian stock exchange. JBS is the world’s largest meat processor with operations in Brazil, Argentina, Italy, United States and Australia.

JBS is very much a family business, with humble beginnings in 1953 operating out of a single butcher shop. The founder, Mr Jose Batista Snr, his wife and their three sons and three daughters are all involved in the day to day running of the business.

TMC is a high quality lamb processing business, servicing quality high end markets in the United States, Canada and Europe. It has a strong brand and quality product reputation both in the international and Australian domestic market. The Company is headquartered in the premium lamb growing area of Bordertown South Australia located 3 hours east of Adelaide.

Swift is headquartered at Dinmore near Ipswich in Queensland and operates nine processing facilities and five feedlots across the east coast of Australia. Swift processes beef and veal along with smalls including lamb, sheep, pigs and goats.

Mr. Peter Beckers, member of the Executive Board of VION N.V. said “The TMC is an excellent business, located in the best lamb producing country in Australia. Our processing facility at Bordertown is in excellent condition and despite the sales process, VION has continued to spend money in accordance with its capital program to improve the business processes. VION’s customer intimacy strategy focuses on our select global customer base in retail, food service and industry. Holland, Germany and UK are VION’s home markets in terms of production and further processing. TMC therefore is from a geographical perspective, a non-core business for VION. Today’s announcement brings together two outstanding companies, each with their own strengths in sheep and lamb production and brand marketing across domestic and international”.

With this acquisition, Swift will have a total of 10 processing operations across the eastern Australian seaboard, from Townsville in the north to Launceston and Devonport in Tasmania, with a total slaughtering capacity of 8,555 head of cattle and 24,500 head of smalls (sheep, pigs, calves) per day. The combined workforce in Australia will be in excess of 7,500.

The sale is subject to approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.