The Alliance factory at Lorneville near Invercargill in New Zealand’s South Island.
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The formalities for Dawn Meats taking a 65% stake in the Alliance Group have been completed and the new joint venture is now up and running. The Alliance farmer shareholders retain a 35% stake in the joint-venture business. Dawn invested NZ$270m (€133m) to secure the controlling share and the deal was approved by an Alliance shareholder vote in October.
The joint venture will use NZ$188m (€92.6m) to reduce Alliance’s short-term working capital facility and NZ€20m (€9.8m) will be invested in the company’s strategic capital programme.
There will also be a payment to Alliance farmer shareholders. In the current 2025/26 financial year, NZ$20m (€9.8m) will be distributed to them and up to NZ$20m (€9.8m) again in the 2026/27 financial year. The format of payment will be 45% paid as a dividend and 55% as a supply based rebate in the current financial year while next year, 75% will be paid as a rebate and 25% retained as earnings. The board of the new venture will include Niall Browne and Sean Breen from Dawn, Mark Wynne and Jared Collie from Alliance, with Thomas Moran as independent chair.
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The original trigger for the deal was the need for Alliance to raise capital outside its shareholder base and Dawn emerged as preferred partner. Niall Browne, CEO of Dawn Meats says the deal “will unlock new and exciting opportunities for both companies and our farmer-suppliers in New Zealand, Ireland and the UK. This investment expands our business significantly and positions us, our UK company Dunbia and Alliance Group as a unified and dynamic industry competitor with a substantial presence and customer base in both the northern and southern hemispheres.” New Zealand is a long-established supplier of sheepmeat to the UK and EU and following recent deals with both the UK and EU has built market share for beef exports as well.
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The formalities for Dawn Meats taking a 65% stake in the Alliance Group have been completed and the new joint venture is now up and running. The Alliance farmer shareholders retain a 35% stake in the joint-venture business. Dawn invested NZ$270m (€133m) to secure the controlling share and the deal was approved by an Alliance shareholder vote in October.
The joint venture will use NZ$188m (€92.6m) to reduce Alliance’s short-term working capital facility and NZ€20m (€9.8m) will be invested in the company’s strategic capital programme.
There will also be a payment to Alliance farmer shareholders. In the current 2025/26 financial year, NZ$20m (€9.8m) will be distributed to them and up to NZ$20m (€9.8m) again in the 2026/27 financial year. The format of payment will be 45% paid as a dividend and 55% as a supply based rebate in the current financial year while next year, 75% will be paid as a rebate and 25% retained as earnings. The board of the new venture will include Niall Browne and Sean Breen from Dawn, Mark Wynne and Jared Collie from Alliance, with Thomas Moran as independent chair.
The original trigger for the deal was the need for Alliance to raise capital outside its shareholder base and Dawn emerged as preferred partner. Niall Browne, CEO of Dawn Meats says the deal “will unlock new and exciting opportunities for both companies and our farmer-suppliers in New Zealand, Ireland and the UK. This investment expands our business significantly and positions us, our UK company Dunbia and Alliance Group as a unified and dynamic industry competitor with a substantial presence and customer base in both the northern and southern hemispheres.” New Zealand is a long-established supplier of sheepmeat to the UK and EU and following recent deals with both the UK and EU has built market share for beef exports as well.
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