Jamaica Broilers Group acquires US processing plant

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Source: Jamaica Observer

Gentry’s Poultry located in South Carolina now being operated by local company

The Jamaica Broilers Group Limited (JBG) as part of its expansion programme especially in the United States has finalised an asset purchase agreement with Gentry’s Poultry Company Inc.

The agreement, which was done through Wincorp Properties, Inc, a subsidiary of the JBG, is for the purchase of a poultry processing plant located in South Carolina, USA.

As at Wednesday, September 18, Jamaica Broilers took over the day-to-day operations of the plant and will rebrand it as The Best Dressed Chicken.

Gentry’s Poultry carries a similar history as the Best Dressed Chicken division, having started in the 1950s as a family-owned poultry processing plant.

Gentry’s employs over 150 workers and serves retailers within a 200-mile radius of the plant in South Carolina.

Gentry’s is also well-known within its community for its corporate social responsibility, which the JBG says “further aligns with its own mission of serving and building goodwill”.

President of US Operations at the Jamaica Broilers Group, Stephen Levy, commenting on the new acquisition by his company said: “The acquisition of Gentry’s Poultry allows for the completion of the vertically integrated model in the United States.”

In a further comment the JBG president of US Operations stated: “For over 60 years, the Jamaica Broilers Group has consistently made efforts to expand its business around its core product which is poultry. The company declared in its 2019 annual report that acquisitions within the United States would continue to form a part of its growth strategy and now, the JBG has declared a new acquisition set to pilot the Best Dressed Chicken further in the US market.”

JBG’s US operations currently include breeder farms, producing fertile hatching eggs in Arkansas and Georgia; hatcheries in Iowa and Pennsylvania and a feed mill in Georgia.