• South Africa’s PIC plans to sell majority stake in Daybreak
• Move seeks strategic investor after years of losses and mismanagement
• Poultry firm under business rescue amid financial and governance issues

South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s largest asset manager, plans to divest its majority stake in poultry producer Daybreak Foods, Bloomberg reported. The state pension fund manager is seeking to sell more than 60% of its holding in the Johannesburg-based company.

The PIC aims to bring in a strategic partner able to inject capital into a business that still supplies about 6% of South Africa’s chicken consumption. “We must exit because we became 100% shareholders by default,” said David Masondo, chair of the PIC board.

The remarks underscore the fund’s concerns about its investment in Daybreak. Previously part of the Afgri group, the company was acquired in 2015 for 1.19 billion rand ($70.2 million) by a black-ownership consortium led by Matome Maponya Investments, with PIC backing.

The PIC took full control in October 2017 after approval from the Competition Tribunal. The move followed a January 2017 call by the ruling African National Congress for state intervention in struggling poultry farms hit by low-cost imports from the United States, Brazil and the European Union.

Nearly a decade of crisis

Despite its difficulties, Daybreak was once a significant player in South Africa’s poultry market, alongside Astral Foods and Rainbow Chicken. Expectations of a turnaround did not materialize. Over the past decade, the company has faced fraud allegations, inflated supply contracts, delayed wage payments and animal welfare concerns, including reports of chickens dying from starvation.

These governance failures worsened financial losses, prompting the PIC to inject nearly 1.7 billion rand into the business with little result.

In May 2025, as the situation became untenable, the board placed Daybreak under business rescue, a South African legal process aimed at rehabilitating distressed companies rather than liquidating them.

The company’s troubles have also drawn political scrutiny. The Democratic Alliance said it would refer the matter to parliament’s finance committee and called for a full investigation into what it described as a “financial and ethical crisis.” The party accused executives of earning six-figure salaries while workers went unpaid and animals died from neglect, and urged the Financial Sector Conduct Authority to examine the role of the PIC and other public entities.

Since entering business rescue, Daybreak has been operating under a three-phase restructuring plan that includes job cuts, operational streamlining, a focus on core profitable segments and improved regulatory compliance.

Espoir Olodo