Limerick-based agri-tech company BHSL has appointed former Kerry Group chief executive Denis Brosnan as executive chair. The group is also seeking to raise €7m in new equity to expand its business into new markets.

The company has also appointed former ESB chief executive Padraig McManus, retired Supreme Court Judge Fidelma Macken, corporate financier David Hickey, and Limerick businessman Tom Lynch as non-executive directors to the board.

Brosnan and co have come on board with BHSL as the company seeks to commercialise the energy conversion technology it has developed over the last decade.

BHSL manufactures a system that turns chicken manure into a source of fuel for the entire farm. The system converts poultry manure to energy for heating chicken houses on poultry farms. Any excess energy can then be sold back into the electricity grid, while the ash from the burnt poultry manure can be spread as a more environmentally friendly high-nutrient fertiliser.

In 2015, BHSL signed a 20-year agreement with the European poultry division of Cargill, one of the world’s largest agribusinesses.

To date, BHSL has signed deals with the European poultry unit of agribusiness giant Cargill, as well as signing a $3m pilot project with the US state of Maryland to trial its energy conversion technology. The state of Maryland is a strategic location to enter the US market, with 1bn chickens produced in the region each year, or 12% of total US poultry production.

As well as the UK and the US, the company now has sales people in Poland, Germany and the Netherlands, and has its eye on export markets as far away as New Zealand.

Poland is the largest poultry producer in Europe, while in the Netherlands, poultry farmers face major regulatory challenges that BHSL’s technology can help them overcome. To date, the BHSL strategy has been to partner with very large customers such as Cargill that have very big poultry production pipelines behind them.

Kerry experience

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, BHSL’s managing director of sales and business development Declan O’Connor said what Denis Brosnan brings to the company is “ focus and clarity on people’s roles and he expects people to execute a very clear and strategic plan.”

O’Connor, along with his brother Jack, have built the BHSL business over the last decade, with close to €19m invested in developing the technology during that time. Although first established as a family business, BHSL currently has a lot more former Kerry Group experience in the ranks than just Brosnan.

Experience

BHSL’s managing director of finance is Michael J Kearney, a former senior executive of Kerry Group who worked almost 40 years across a variety of roles. Similarly, BHSL operations director, Michael Wren, is also a former Kerry executive and brings a lifetime of experience to the company.

Declan O’Connor himself is a former employee of the Kerry Group as well as holding finance and management positions in communications group Eir and advertising giant JCDecaux.