One of China’s largest agriculture and animal husbandry enterprises, the New Hope Group, has completed the purchase of the Real Pet Food Company for AUS$1 billion (US$770 million), the largest M&A conducted by a domestic enterprise in the pet industry in recent years, Yicai.com reported.
New Hope Group will become the new largest shareholder of the Australian company following the purchase. Other investors include Hosen Capital, Temasek Holdings, China Investment Co. Ltd. and Genbridge Capital.
Liu Yonghao, head of the company, said they have been looking forward to moving into the pet industry to fill in this area of their portfolio. The company will bond their domestic and overseas business, aiming to help Real Pet Food to enter the Chinese market.
It is noteworthy that with the explosive growth of the pet economy, the sector is becoming red hot for investments. While the scale of China’s pet industry is expected to reach 134 billion yuan in 2017, there is no local giant in the domestic pet market.
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