BDA wins 2014 Large Transaction of The Year Award from TMA

September 30, 2014

Business Development Asia has been awarded the 2014 Transaction of the Year – Large Company Award by the TMA (Turnaround Management Association) for its work for AgFeed. The transaction involved the divestiture, in bankruptcy, of AgFeed Industries Inc’s US and China operations in two separate deals, together valued at US$114m.

BDA acted as exclusive financial advisor on the China divestiture process. BDA Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor on the sale of AgFeed USA. In both sale processes, BDA identified and approached the optimal buyers, working closely with AgFeed’s restructuring advisor, Mackinac Partners.

BDA orchestrated the successful sales of:
– AgFeed’s US operations to affiliates of Tri Oak Foods and Smithfield / Murphy Brown, and
– AgFeed’s China operations to Ningbo Tech Bank

The proceeds enabled full recovery for AgFeed’s creditors.

Euan Rellie, Senior Managing Director at BDA, said, “We’re pleased to receive this award for our role in a complex, cross-border transaction, realizing significant value for stakeholders. We appreciated the opportunity to work alongside excellent professionals including the teams at Mackinac, Foley & Lardner, and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, to secure the best future owners of these leading agribusiness assets.”

Justine Mannering, Managing Director at BDA, added, “We believe that the sale of AgFeed’s China operations was the first ever acquisition by a Chinese company of the Chinese assets of a US Chapter 11 debtor. We’ve seen strong interest from Asian buyers in distressed transactions over the past two years. This growing trend will benefit US investors.”

The success and complexity of the transactions has earned recognition from financial media analysts and industry associations. These transactions led to three awards from The M&A Advisor, including International M&A Deal of the Year, Agriculture Deal of the Year, and S363 Sale of the Year.

ABOUT BDA
Business Development Asia LLC (“BDA”) is a leader in cross-border investment banking. BDA advises on M&A, capital raising, and restructuring. BDA has been consistently owned and managed by the same team since 1996. BDA has a track record of providing independent advice to blue-chip corporate and financial sponsor clients from North America, Europe and Asia. BDA was named M&A Advisory Firm of the Year at The ACG Champion’s Awards in 2014. BDA is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Bahrain, Mumbai, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. BDA formed a partnership with William Blair & Company in 2011. BDA carries out its US securities business through BDA Advisors Inc., a broker-dealer registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member of FINRA and SIPC. www.bdapartners.com

ABOUT TMA
Turnaround Management Association (TMA) is the leading organization dedicated to turnaround management, corporate restructuring, and distressed investing. Established in 1988, TMA has more than 9,300 members in 49 chapters worldwide, including 31 in North America. Members include turnaround practitioners, attorneys, accountants, advisors, liquidators, executive recruiters, and consultants, as well as academic, government, and judicial employees. www.turnaround.org

For more information, please contact Euan Rellie or Justine Mannering in New York on +1 212 265 5300.