Paul Lederer, owner and chairman of the Western Sydney Wanderers, has sold his family’s 30 per cent ownership of Primo Smallgoods to JBS Australia, a subsidiary of JBS, a Brazilian meat processing giant.
Farmers, competing abattoirs, meat and smallgoods suppliers and customers lodged submissions with the ACCC.
“JBS’s increase in market share as a result of the proposed acquisition would be relatively small,” the ACCC said.
Mr Lederer’s family, which arrived in Australia from Hungary, opened a butcher’s shop in Homebush, in 1957, on a site which the NSW government bought for $35 million prior to the 2000 Olympic Games.
In the meantime, Mr Lederer had formed Primo Smallgoods, with 38 employees, and grew to become a major smallgoods manufacturer in Australia, employing more than 3000 workers
This was accomplished by moving from Homebush to a world-class facility, at Greenacre, expanding to five manufacturing plants, opening seven distribution centres and operating 30 retail outlets. Primo exports to some 50 countries.
Affinity Equity Partners bought a 70 per cent interest in the company and since then has opened abattoirs in South Australia and NSW, invested $1 billion in new plant in Brisbane and opened an office in Shanghai.
Mr Lederer, who was No 75 on last year’s BRW 200 Rich List, has been honoured by the Danish Export Association for his contribution to the Danish economy.
Primo imported of $2 billion worth of pork from Denmark over the last two decades to meet demand for its products in Australia
