The acquisition will give SunRice's CopRice arm the Ingham Group's North Island feed mill in Hamilton and the Top Cow and Top Calf feed brands.
It represents SunRice's first entry into agribusiness across the Tasman.
The sale is expected to be completed by March next year.
Ingham's company secretary David Matthews said the Hamilton feed mill was a facility dedicated to the production of dairy feed solely for external sale and was non-core to Ingham’s operations.
“The sale reflects Ingham’s focus on optimising its core poultry business as part of its strategic objective to deliver more consistent, predictable and reliable returns to shareholders,” Mr Matthews said.
SunRice chairman Laurie Arthur said the move was evidence of their growth strategy.
“Disciplined management despite the challenges of 2020 has ensured our balance sheet has remained strong and we are are focused on continuing to leverage that strength to acquire value-accretive businesses,” Mr Arthur said.
“This acquisition will see CopRice take its deep dairy nutrition expertise to one of the world's largest dairy production countries, building on our existing export business into New Zealand by adding local production capacity.
“We have made a number of recent investments in the CopRice business, including the repurposing of the former Coleambally SunRice mill, the acquisition of Riverbank Stockfeeds dairy and beef businesses and investment in our Wangaratta site to reconfigure it into a manufacturer of companion animal products.”
Mr Arthur said the business being acquired had generated revenue of NZ$25 million in the year ended June 2020.
The company said the purchase costs would be funded from existing cash reserves and debt facilities.
SunRice recorded an after tax profit of $22 million for the last financial year.
The dairy business hardly rated a mention in Ingham's last annual report, except to note that New Zealand revenue increased 1.3 per cent in the year, which was attributable to growth in poultry volumes offset by decline in demand for dairy feed volumes due to favourable pasture conditions.
