7 Feb 2015

No jobs to be lost at Wairarapa plant

10:41 am on 7 February 2015

The Australian owner of a smallgoods processing plant in Wairarapa says no jobs will be lost because of the company's buyout by a global food corporation.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has approved a $1.5 billion takeover of Primo Group by the Brazilian company JBS.

Primo operates five processing plants, including Premier Beehive in Carterton, which employs 150 people.

After agreeing to the buyout last November, both JBS and Primo said no major job cuts or restructuring were planned.

Primo's chief executive, Paul Hitchcock said that in fact a capital upgrade had been approved to give the plant more capacity.