Ukrlandfarming holding’s owner Oleh Bakhmatyuk has sold his US assets – the poultry meat processing company Townsends Inc. The businessman managed to gain just $5 Ml for the company, though he had spent roughly USD 55 Ml on its purchase and upgrade before. The US market attracts with its large scale but complicated bureaucratic procedures and competition from local and Latin American plants make it very difficult to get a foothold in this market, Ukrainian poultry companies note according to Kommersant-Ukraine. Oleh Bakhmatyuk got rid of his US assets – the bankrupt chicken meat processor Townsends Inc. was purchased by Rabin Worldwide for $5.36 Ml, The News & Observer newspaper reported on Friday. Rabin expects to close the deal within a few weeks. Then Townsends Inc. will be sold piecemeal, Rabin’s senior vice president Michael Bank stated.

This company was the only participant of an auction held last week. Oleh Bakhmatyuk looked for a buyer for Townsends over the entire last year. This company, founded back in 1891, was acquired by the businessman in 2011 after it had been declared bankrupt. The US poultry meat market was on the decline at that time, but Bakhmatyuk explained that he had bought the assets hoping for its recovery. In addition, the entrepreneur planned to use Townsends to deliver American meat to Ukraine and Russia. “I consider the deal very attractive, Townsends is one of the oldest meat manufacturers in the USA,” Mr. Bakhmatyuk noted at that time. Townsends (with its main brands including Chef`s Select, Perfect Breast, Pristine Cuisine) produced 309.8 KMT of chicken meat and 1.3 Ml eggs back in 2009, and the company’s revenue totaled $504.2 Ml. But they did fail to restore the plant’s operation. Poultry meat supplies from South America, mostly from Brazil, oversaturated the US chicken meat market. “It should be admitted that this was not a very good investment,” Oleh Bakhmatyuk confessed. As a result, he decided to “leave the US market, and accept losses.” According to him, the company paid $24.9 Ml for the purchase of the American assets and incurred additional costs totaling some $30 Ml.

UkrAgroConsult