PROMINENT South Australian meat processor Thomas Foods International has made a significant move to secure a northern presence with the purchase of branded beef business Atron Enterprises.
TFI has acquired 100 per cent of Atron, including relating entities RG Meats in NSW and Meatland, Queensland.
The move gives the big family-owned company ownership of award-winning brands including the highly-regarded Meat Standards Australia grainfed Condabri, named after the Chinchilla, Queensland, feedlot which is the main supplier to the program.
Atron’s other brands include Spring Grove, Premi-Yum Black and the pasture-fed The Station and come with established, high-end global and domestic customers.
Atron Enterprises founder and owner David Larkin will join TFI’s executive team.
TFI has four food-processing plants in Murray Bridge and Lobethal, SA, Tamworth, NSW and Wallangarra on the Queensland border.
However, cattle for Atron’s brands will continue to be processed at Casino’s Northern Co-operative Meat Company, in north east NSW, where the business is based.
Mr Larkin said for cattle suppliers, it would be business as usual.
TFI chief executive officer Darren Thomas said the investment in Atron provided an opportunity for TFI to continue its growth in the Australian processing industry with particular regard to its northern focus and complement its existing domestic wholesale and retail businesses.
“Both myself and Chris (Thomas) have had a long association with David dating back to the T&R Pastoral days when we would sell carcase beef to David,” he said.
“The two companies have maintained a close relationship dating back to their respective origins.
“We are proud, Australian-owned companies that place utmost importance on quality and running our businesses based on strong family values.”
The operation is represented in the USA through its subsidiary Thomas Foods International USA, a company which services the entire North American market with distribution centres across many states.
Atron was established in 1993 and incorporated in 2007 by Mr Larkin, who is recognised as one of the Australian beef industry’s leading strategic planners.
He is the current chairman of the Australian Meat Industry Council’s Australian Processor Council.
He wrote The Larkin Model which the Federal Government has adopted as the model which the Australian beef industry uses to trade with the US when Australia’s export quota ceiling is breached.