PEP's Manuka Health sold to South East Asian trading company

Manuka Health chief executive John Kippenberger. Photo / Supplied

Manuka Health, New Zealand's second biggest manuka honey company, has been sold to a South East Asian company for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction is subject to Overseas Investment Office (OIO) approval.

The company was majority-owned by the Australian private equity company Pacific Equity Partners, with the rest held by top management.

Manuka Health said it had experienced exceptional growth over recent years.

"During this time Manuka Health has also invested in the significant expansion of its internal beekeeping operations which has seen its apiculture operations expand five-fold since 2016," the company said in a statement.

The new investment capital would support the Manuka Health business as it builds on its extensive New Zealand supply platform, taking high quality natural health products to many markets around the world, which include Germany, Japan, Australia, China and North America.

"The new owners understand the tremendous natural health properties of Manuka honey and they are committed to supporting this great New Zealand company as we continue to forge steps forward on the global stage, across all aspects of the business over the years ahead," chief executive John Kippenberger said.

Newmarket-based Manuka Health employs more than 140 staff across New Zealand, with regional investment in Northland, Waikato and Wairarapa as well as investment in resources across a number of its international markets.

The new owner has requested anonymity until the OIO process is complete, he told the Herald.

Kippenberger declined to be drawn on the size of the transaction, but the Australian Financial Review speculated that it was worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Manuka Health had doubled its revenue over the last three years and that the sale was big endorsement of the manuka honey industry in general, he said.

The company is the second biggest manuka honey company after NZX listed Comvita Honey.

Pacific Equity Partners took a majority stake in Manuka Health late in 2015 for a reported price of $110 million - more than five times the $20 million valuation in 2012 when Auckland investment firm Waterman Capital took a 20 per cent stake in the business.