Food and Agribusiness

Agriculture supports Australia’s rural communities and contributes significantly to our national economy.

As the cornerstone of Australian industry, food and agribusiness has always been an iconic part of our identity.

At PwC, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients meet the coming challenges, from accessing investment, intergenerational succession, food trust and assurance, and business structure and sale, we partner with our clients to get exceptional outcomes.

We are one of the largest providers of professional services to the Australian agriculture and food sector. Our team has a deep affinity with the sector built from their family farming backgrounds, agricultural education and years of experience working in agribusiness.

Our team has first hand experience in dealing with farmers, governments, exporters, investors and industry bodies, along with knowledge of the practice, technological, regulatory and operating environment of the Australian agriculture sector. With years of experience, study and passion that comes from a background working in the sector, our team services the needs of family run farming businesses, large internationally owned and operated agribusinesses to local and foreign investors looking to capitalise on Australia’s booming agriculture sector.

Recognised as a leading global mid-market adviser, our network of 3,000 strong food and agribusiness and corporate finance experts spans more than 60 countries.

We help our agribusiness clients prosper, even in the face of natural disasters, a fluctuating Australian dollar, volatile global commodity markets and international protectionism.

We provide a range of services including helping Australian farmers and agribusinesses looking to sell or secure capital locally or offshore, foreign investors buying into Australia’s farming and resources sector to assisting clients in producing the most economic returns from their farming.

We recognise that Australia’s agriculture sector operates on an international stage, with 72% of total production being exported. Whether it’s exports, foreign trade, investment, divestment, acquisition or in accessing capital, our team meets the needs of our clients on a local and global scale.

Innovation including new technologies, smarter farm management, changing consumption patterns, food security and improved business models are creating new opportunities, as well as regulatory and intellectual property hurdles not seen before. We work with our clients through an integrated service offering employing multidisciplinary practices locally and internationally to identify and overcome these hurdles.

Creating value for your business

PwC works with its clients across its integrated offering to ensure they remain competitive, and continue to take advantage of the opportunities that lie in Australian agriculture land.

Commercial and Financial Advisory

Our sector knowledge, experience and access to a network of global connections ensures transactions are effected seamlessly, including:

buy and sell-side advisory
identifying opportunities among key market segments / participants
profitability benchmarking performance measures
acquisitions and investment opportunities
capital raisings
debt refinancing
accessing inbound capital
deal valuation / commercial modelling
due diligence
economic advice
advising major bulk handlers on commodity and treasury risk management
advising industry and government on the effects of climate change.

Private Clients

As with all our clients, our private clients enjoy a single, local point of contact who partner with them in providing an integrated service tailored to their needs. This includes:

succession planning - next generation, sale or IPO ready
facilitating funding options to expand your business
developing strategies to optimise business growth locally or overseas
working with inbound investors and developing outbound channels

Assurance

Our audit capabilities are backed by a world class calibre of accounting professionals, recognised as leaders in the provision of services to local and overseas agribusinesses. Our services including:

applying the agriculture accounting standard (IAS 41)
understanding illiquid soft commodity markets
assessing the effects of prolonged drought on asset values
accounting for water rights

Legal

Our team of experienced lawyers provide legal and regulatory expertise across all aspects of agribusiness acquisitions, divestments, asset sales, capital raising and foreign investment, including:

preparation of legal agreements
analysis of regulatory environment and approvals including FIRB
establishing governance structures
deal terms and execution
post-deal integration implementation
government and cross-border trade implications
intellectual property rights
due diligence

Tax

Our team of agribusiness tax specialists provide a broad range of services to business clients across a number of disciplines, including:

structuring acquisitions, divestments and restructures
taxation assistance across all aspects of a deal including due diligence, vendor due diligence and post deal integration
international tax and transfer pricing advice ensuring efficiency and compliance for all international transactions
tax planning and wrap around tax compliance services for the full range of businesses from multinationals to family businesses
intergenerational succession tax issues
specialist support in R&D and grand opportunities to leverage spend on innovation and technology
full range of cross border transaction tax advisory assistance including customs and trusted trader program assistance.

Environment, Social & Governance

At PwC, we are dedicated to ensuring our clients grow to become organisations for the future. ESG is here to stay and we can help you make sense of it by:

supporting end-to-end ESG transformation to position your business for a sustainable tomorrow
helping you establish and build marketplace trust and credibility through rigorous, transparent reporting and assurance programs
future-proofing your business by helping you to put ESG at the core of your purpose
providing you with an agricultural industry specific lens to ESG
supporting you throughout the process of identifying material ESG topics for your business
supporting you in your transactions to provide buy and sell-side ESG focussed due diligence and value creation opportunities
future proofing your business against a moving regulatory environment, by helping you calculate your emissions baselines, and providing ESG strategy to help you meet your future net-zero targets
helping you identify additional streams of revenue and decarbonisation pathways by leveraging a growing marketplace and appetite for carbon credits

Some of our work

Our team has experience and a proven track record in working across all sub-sectors of agriculture including:

Meat & Poultry

PwC was engaged by an Australian iconic beef producer to explore expansionary capital raising designed to fund an upgrade to its existing plant

Our key roles included identifying potential investors in Australia and overseas, producing and tailoring specific marketing materials, assisting with in preparation of financial and operational models to demonstrate investor returns and the the preparation, negotiation and final execution of the transaction contracts

Grains

PwC was engaged by an international pension fund to undertake buy-side due diligence on a large scale irrigated and dryland broadacre cropping enterprise.

Aside from our financial and tax due diligence role including guidance on deal strategy, valuation, risk assessment, and structuring; we were able to use our detailed financial modelling capability to forecast potential investor returns on the investment.

Additionally, we were able to draw on our vast global experience to help the investor navigate through the complex regulatory requirements associated with inbound agricultural investment into Australia.

Horticulture

PwC was engaged by a third generation family business in the horticultural industry to provide support and advice in relation to financial management and strategy.

Our key roles have evolved to include full service tax and accounting compliance, tax consulting and succession planning. We have also been instrumental in helping the business establish a formal board incorporating advisory roles for one of our partners and a third party.

Viticulture

Provision of merger advice to an Australian wine producer that resulted in the establishment of one of the top 20 privately owned Australian wine producers.