👉 Background: Four'N Twenty is the Australian pie company that first launched back in 1947. Since then, it has become an Aussie icon - alongside Kath and Kim, Neighbours and Bob Hawke skulling a beer. In 2003, Patties Foods acquired Four'N Twenty.

👉 What happened: Now, Pacific Alliance Group, one of the biggest private equity funds in Asia, has snapped up Patties Foods (including Four'N Twenty) and Vesco (owner of Lean Cuisine) for over $500m.

👉 What else: This ain't their first rodeo in the food industry. Pacific Alliance Group is already the owner of Red Rooster and Oporto. And this deal is just another Australian food giant that has ended up in foreign hands.

What's the key learning?

💡Iconic Australian food brands become iconic global acquisition targets. We've seen it with brands like Arnott’s and Uncle Toby’s, which have already been sold offshore.

💡The size of the Aussie domestic market is too small to create economies of scale. Although we’ve got heaps of land and quality farmers to grow food, we’ve only got around 25 million mouths to feed.

💡 So taking high quality Australian products to the US (with a population of more than 329 million) or China (population of 1.4 billion) makes a whole lot more sense. And Four'N Twenty already tested this strategy in Japan - with success.

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