ORGANIC recovery sector company Bettergrow has acquired Hygain Holdings, an equine nutrition company with manufacturing facilities at Officer, Victoria and Somersby, New South Wales.

The sale includes the Mitavite horse-feed business.

Hygain Holdings had been owned by Australian equity firm Adamantem Capital since 2017.

Bettergrow is a part of the Borg Group, an Australian-owned group of manufacturing companies and brands.

According to media reports, the business had previously been on the market, with GrainCorp and Ridley Corporation identified as potential buyers.

An Adamantem Capital spokesperson said the business was ready for its next phase under new ownership.

“Under Adamantem’s ownership and investment, Hygain grew from a Victorian family business to a leading global premium horse feed business, more than doubling revenue and production output,” the spokesperson said.

“The Hygain Group is the highest performing and most profitable equine nutrition business in the APAC region and after eight years of private equity ownership, it was time to transition it to new ownership.

“The management team led by Peter Weaver, a long term Agribusiness executive, remains in place.”

Hygain background

Hygain was established by Victorian horse owner Greg Manley in 1983.

After its acquisition by Adamantem, the organisation purchased the Mitavite business, which included the Somersby site, from Inghams in 2018 for about $130 million.

Together, the business manufactures and sells specialist horse feed and supplements to the racing, breeding and equestrian sectors through wholesalers and independent retailers.

It exports to all large markets outside of Europe, including the US, China and Japan.

Feed production at the company has achieved carbon-neutral status after investment in a 553kWh solar installation.

Bettergrow maintain a 3000-head breeding herd of Angus cattle at its Warragundi Aggregation, between Dubbo and Mudgee in central NSW. Photo: Bettergrow

Bettergrow ag investment

Bettergrow’s key activity is the recovery and remanufacture of organic residuals and by-products, converting material otherwise bound for landfill into composts, fertilisers and soil rehabilitation products for resale.

It also owns Warragundi Aggregation, covering 8547ha at Goolma on the Central Tablelands of NSW.

The property is an aggregation of 12 neighbouring farms sustainably operated as a single agribusiness enterprise supporting the large-scale production of pasture, fodder, and beef.

It has irrigation water entitlements of 1053 megalitres per annum.

The company acquired the initial property in 2021, and additional blocks have since been added to make this one of the largest agribusiness enterprises in the Central Tablelands.

According to the company’s website, the acquisition was designed to expand organic compost operations and advance sustainable primary production, a core belief of Bettergrow.

“With managed grazing of cattle for beef production, timed around cropping for fodder, improved pastures and complimentary grazing operations with the principal focus being soil health,” the website states.

“The sustainable production system solely uses our own organic-based inputs that build resilience in the soil to the variations in the Australian climate.”

Bettergrow has also introduced a large-scale soil carbon project as part of the property’s broader enterprise mix.

ACCC approvals

Approval for Bettergrow’s acquisition of Hygain has been granted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The regulator found that the transaction was “unlikely to give rise to any material lessening of competition”.

It found there was no overlap in the businesses in the supply of horse feed and supplements in Australia and that there was a “low risk of foreclosure or other concerning conglomerate effects resulting from exclusionary conduct, bundling or tying of products”.

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