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Sydney-headquartered private markets firm Pacific Equity Partners has partnered with Navis Capital Partners to acquire Mainland Poultry, New Zealand's largest egg supplier, in a deal that pushes the firm's dedicated continuation vehicle (CV) platform past $1 billion in funds under management.
The transaction, led by PEP's continuation vehicle arm PEP Gateway, marks the platform's first actively led CV deal in Australasia and gives the partnership control of a business commanding about 40 per cent of New Zealand's egg market.
The deal is the latest in an accelerating run of transactions for PEP, which manages $19 billion in assets across private equity, secure assets, private credit and CV strategies.
In August last year, PEP acquired a 75 per cent stake in Spark New Zealand's data centre portfolio for up to NZ$1.4 billion ($532 million) through its Secure Assets Fund II.
In April this year, the firm lobbed a non-binding indicative offer valued at $750 million for ASX-listed outdoor media company oOh!media (ASX: OML), a deal that has since been rejected by OML.
PEP has completed more than 250 investments since its founding in 1998, representing $56 billion in total transaction value and delivering an average net internal rate of return of 26 per cent per annum across its closed-end funds.
PEP Gateway director James Randall says Mainland Poultry's vertically integrated operations, spanning feed milling, breeding, hatching, rearing and egg processing, underpin its dominant market position.
"Mainland has a strong market position, is vertically integrated with scale assets, and has a quality management team led by CEO John McKay," says Randall.
"It is also well positioned for future growth following significant investments in its free range and barn capacity."
Continuation vehicles have emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of private equity globally.
General practice-led secondary transaction volume reached US$115 billion in 2025, with continuation vehicles accounting for 89 per cent of that activity and 43 per cent of total secondary market volume, according to the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association.
PEP Gateway managing director Paul Ryan says the Mainland transaction is a natural extension of PEP's global CV experience, which spans about 50 single-asset CV and co-investment transactions since 2022.
Malaysia-headquartered Navis Capital Partners, which manages more than US$5 billion in private equity and private credit capital across 88 control investments since 1998, had held Mainland Poultry in a prior fund structure.
The continuation vehicle allows Navis to offer liquidity to existing investors while retaining exposure to the asset alongside PEP.
“It’s great to be able to partner with a very experienced local sponsor in PEP, deliver liquidity to our existing investors, and provide a runway for those continuing on the journey,” says Navis Capital partner William Whittle.
PEP has experience in the poultry sector via its earlier investment in Tegel Foods, which it successfully exited in 2011, and through its current stake in poultry farm operator Agright.
The Mainland deal adds to PEP's growing footprint in trans-Tasman infrastructure and essential services.
The Spark data centre transaction, which settled earlier this year, saw PEP partner with the New Zealand telecommunications company to develop a portfolio of facilities positioned to capture rising demand from hyperscale cloud and artificial intelligence workloads.
Financial terms of the Mainland Poultry acquisition have not been disclosed.
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