M&A activity snapshot
Most deal activity in animal nutrition comes from large companies selling or combining units, and those deals move assets into the hands of new owners. In February 2026, dsm-firmenich agreed to sell its Animal Nutrition & Health business to CVC at a €2.2 billion enterprise value, implying a 7x EV/Adjusted EBITDA multiple. In September 2025, ADM and Alltech agreed to a joint venture combining Alltech's Hubbard Feeds and Masterfeeds, with 18 U.S. and 15 Canadian feed mills, and ADM's 11 U.S. feed mills.
Deal count is rising. Capstone Partners reports that animal feed transactions increased by six deals year over year, driven by strong protein demand and mergers among agricultural cooperatives.
The base of potential targets is large and fragmented. AFIA counts nearly 5,650 U.S. animal food manufacturing facilities, from small on-farm mixers to mills making more than 1 million tons a year. The industry's estimated 2023 total sales were $267.1 billion. NAICS 311119 (other animal food manufacturing) is the core code for livestock and poultry feed mills.
Who is buying
Focused animal health companies buying pharma carve-outs. Large animal health companies are selling feed-additive lines, and focused players are buying them. Phibro bought Zoetis' medicated feed additive portfolio for $350 million in cash. The portfolio included more than 37 product lines, six manufacturing sites and more than 300 employees. Phibro's MFAs and other sales grew to $811 million in fiscal 2026 from $421 million in fiscal 2024.
Strategic feed companies combining mill networks. The ADM-Alltech joint venture will be majority-owned by Alltech. Smaller tuck-ins also happen: Cargill acquired feed mills in Denver and Kansas City from Compana Pet Brands, and the seller stayed on as a contract-manufacturing customer.
Private equity building platforms from corporate units. An affiliate of Balmoral Funds acquired Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, which now operates under the Rangen brand as an independent platform with proprietary premixes and ingredient blends. At the large-cap end, CVC is the buyer of the dsm-firmenich business.
Cooperatives. Capstone ties part of the rise in feed deals to merger activity among agricultural cooperatives seeking to mitigate margin pressures.
What buyers look for
Species and customer mix. Volume follows animal numbers. North American feed tonnage contracted 0.7% in 2025, primarily due to a historically tight cattle cycle, with growth concentrated in broilers and dairy. Customer concentration is a known risk: Phibro reports that a majority of its sales go to integrated poultry, beef and dairy cattle and swine operations and flags consolidation among customer and distributor groups as a pricing threat.
Cost pass-through. Feed and premix margins depend on moving ingredient costs into price quickly. Phibro notes that trace mineral costs and selling prices fluctuate with commodity markets. Roughly 37% of ingredients used in livestock, poultry and aquaculture feed are coproducts from other industries, so supply contracts with ethanol plants and processors matter.
Proprietary formulations. Additive and specialty-nutrition IP carries a higher valuation than commodity tonnage, as the two dsm-firmenich divestment values show. Counting the earlier feed enzymes sale, the overall ANH divestment value was €3.7 billion, implying a 10x EV/Adjusted EBITDA multiple, versus 7x for the premix and vitamins business on its own.
Regulatory record. Buyers check this early, because every FDA and state license has to carry over to the new owner (see below).
What makes a strong company
A feed or animal health business that commands a premium typically has:
- A current FDA medicated feed mill license where required. Form FDA 3448 is required for facilities that manufacture feed using Category II, Type A medicated articles.
- Clean Veterinary Feed Directive records. Since 2023, all medically important antimicrobials for animals require the authorization of a licensed veterinarian.
- A working FSMA food safety plan. The animal food rule requires an analysis of hazards and risk-based preventive controls.
- Current state feed licenses in every state it sells into. Most state feed control programs require a commercial feed license before a company can make, distribute or sell feed.
- A species mix weighted toward growing segments, and no single integrator or cooperative large enough to set the price.
- Documented pricing practice that shows ingredient cost changes reaching the customer within a predictable lag.
Valuation and deal structure
Public multiples in this vertical come from large deals. Use them as reference points, not benchmarks for a regional mill:
- dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health to CVC: €2.2 billion EV, 7x adjusted EBITDA, including an earnout of up to €0.5 billion.
- Elanco's aqua business to Merck Animal Health: about $1.3 billion, roughly 7.4x estimated 2023 revenue. By Axia arithmetic, that is about 14x the approximately $92 million in adjusted EBITDA Elanco disclosed, which excluded corporate cost allocation. That business is aquaculture health, not livestock feed.
- Sector proxy: Capstone reports the agri-inputs average EV/EBITDA multiple expanded from 8.9x to 12.0x between 2022-2023 and 2024-YTD 2026. That figure covers fertilizer, crop protection, seed and feed together.
Axia found no public multiple data specific to lower-middle-market feed mills or premix plants. Earnouts appear even at large scale, as the dsm-firmenich deal shows. In mill sales, the seller may stay on as a supply or contract-manufacturing customer, as in the Cargill-Compana transaction.
On license transfers: FDA requires that medicated feed mill licenses be supplemented when there is a change in business name, ownership, and/or address, and VFD feed distributors must notify FDA within 30 days of a change in ownership. Build both into the closing checklist.
Outlook
Herd size and animal disease will drive volume through 2027. USDA counted 86.2 million head of cattle and calves on January 1, 2026, with beef cows down 1% to 27.6 million. In June 2026, APHIS confirmed New World screwworm in a bovine in Zavala County, Texas. On the poultry side, HPAI had affected 173 million birds since February 2022 as of May 2025. Disease pressure raises demand for animal health products, but it also adds volume risk for single-species feed mills.
Ownership change will keep coming from both directions. Large companies are still selling non-core nutrition lines, and cooperatives are merging to gain scale. Owners with clean FDA and state licensing, diversified species exposure and proprietary formulations are best placed for strategic and PE buyers through 2027.
Thinking about a sale of a feed, premix or animal health business? Run the valuation tool for a market-data starting point, or return to the Agriculture & Agribusiness M&A overview. See also: how to build a target list for a niche vertical.