Dawn Meats CEO Niall Browne has taken over as the acting chief executive at Alliance Group, the New Zealand meat processor in which Dawn Meats have a 65% stake.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that he has spent considerable time in New Zealand since Dawn Meats took control of the business at the start of December and that he is there at present.

In the announcement, Browne also said that “an integration process with Dawn Meats is under way with senior representatives from Ireland and the UK visiting New Zealand to share information, make plans for the future and secure further synergies with Alliance.

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He was also positive about the performance of the business in the early stages of the joint venture saying “with the first quarter results under our belt, we are tracking ahead of budget, with supply from both current and returning shareholders and new suppliers”.

He will replace Willie Wiese who is stepping down from the role having overseen what chairman Tom Moran describes as “an intensive two-year re-set of the entire business, a pleasing return to profitability and the completion of a successful capital raise with Dawn Meats”.

Browne also paid tribute to the outgoing CEO saying that “Willie and the Alliance team have brought the business back to profitability and we thank him for his contribution. We wish him well for the future”.

The Alliance Group business has six beef and lamb factories, with capacity to process six million sheep and 500,000 cattle annually, plus a venison unit that can process up to 100,000 deer annually. The trigger for the Dawn Meats investment was the need for the Alliance Group to raise capital outside its own share holder base following two years of losses.

Dawn Meats emerged as the preferred partner and invested the equivalent of €133m to take a 65% stake in the business.

It will now be run as a joint venture with the Alliance Group retaining a 35% share though it is clear that Dawn Meats are very much in the driving seat.