Karoo Crown Beef Group Business Plan › Section 1 › Executive Summary

1.1 The Opportunity

Karoo Crown Beef Group (Pty) Ltd (“Karoo Crown”, “the Company” or
“the Group”) is being established to develop the most modern, vertically
integrated premium beef processing and export platform in Southern
Africa. The business will combine an EU-certified abattoir, deboning and
primal processing facility, a 15,000-head feedlot, an integrated
producer procurement network, a HACCP-grade cold-chain logistics
platform and a portfolio of branded premium beef SKUs targeting
high-value export and domestic markets.

The Group is modelled on the successful producer-led integrated
export beef strategy demonstrated by Savanna Beef Namibia, which retains
cattle within its country of origin for value-added processing and
export rather than exporting low-margin live weaners. Karoo Crown adapts
this strategy for the South African context, leveraging the country’s
substantially larger cattle herd, superior logistics infrastructure,
established veterinary services and existing trade access to the
European Union, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia.

The investment thesis rests on five empirically grounded pillars: (i)
structural growth in global premium beef demand, projected to take the
global beef market from USD 520.5 billion in 2024 to USD 749.9 billion
by 2033; (ii) acute under-utilisation of South Africa’s export
potential, where exports currently represent only 5% of national
production; (iii) a deep, well-documented price gradient between
commodity and branded premium beef channels, exceeding 4x at the top of
the curve; (iv) the proven economics of vertical integration in protein
processing; and (v) the rising importance of traceability, halal
certification and ESG compliance — areas where a greenfield,
purpose-built operator can outcompete legacy incumbents.

1.2 The Company in One Page

Karoo Crown will be incorporated as a private company in the Republic
of South Africa, with a planned future restructuring into a
holding-company / operating-subsidiary architecture to accommodate
producer co-operative participation, mezzanine instruments and possible
future listed-vehicle exit. The Group’s core operating site will be
located in the Eastern Cape interior, within a 250 km catchment of more
than 1.6 million head of commercially marketed cattle, with strategic
access to the ports of Ngqura/Coega and Durban for export logistics.

The operating footprint comprises five integrated business lines:

• Karoo Crown Abattoir & Processing — a 50,000 head/year SAMIC,
  EU- and Halal-certified slaughter, deboning, vacuum-packaging and
  chilling facility.
• Karoo Crown Feedlot — a 15,000-head capacity finishing operation
  supplying premium grain-finished, grass-finished and Wagyu-F1
  categories.
• Karoo Crown Producer Network — contractual sourcing arrangements
  with 1,200 commercial and 3,800 emerging farmers, supported by digital
  traceability and pre-finance programmes.
• Karoo Crown Cold Chain — owned chilled and frozen logistics
  infrastructure spanning the abattoir, regional consolidation hubs and
  port-side cold stores.
• Karoo Crown Brands — a portfolio of branded retail, foodservice
  and export SKUs anchored by the flagship Karoo Crown Reserve, Karoo
  Crown Halal Select and Karoo Crown Free-Range Heritage labels.

1.3 Market Context

The global beef market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.14% to USD
749.9 billion by 2033. Within this aggregate, three sub-markets are
growing materially faster than the broader category and are central to
Karoo Crown’s commercial strategy: the global halal meat market (USD 1.0
trillion by 2025, 7.4% CAGR), the European premium retail beef segment
(loin cuts represent 37.7% of European beef sales), and the UAE beef
market specifically (USD 4.35 billion by 2033, 4.48% CAGR), where 88% of
the population is expatriate and premium imported beef carries the
highest price realisations of any major importing market.

South Africa’s domestic beef industry is large but under-monetised on
the export side. In 2024 the country slaughtered approximately 2.8
million head of cattle — the highest in six years — yet exported only
38,657 tonnes of beef, equivalent to just 5% of total production. By
comparison, Australia exports more than 70% of its beef production,
Brazil more than 25%. The opportunity is structural rather than
cyclical, and is opening up further as the EU and UK steadily diversify
away from concentrated Mercosur exposure following political and
animal-welfare controversies.

1.4 Financial Summary

The Group’s five-year base-case projections forecast revenue growth
from ZAR 385 million in Year 1 to ZAR 1,860 million in Year 5, with
EBITDA scaling from a planned loss of ZAR 38 million in Year 1 (ramp-up
phase) to a positive ZAR 446 million in Year 5 — equivalent to an EBITDA
margin of 24.0%, in line with best-in-class integrated red meat
processors globally. Net profit after tax turns positive in Year 2,
reaches ZAR 79 million by Year 3 and ZAR 248 million by Year 5.
Cumulative free cash flow over the five-year period totals ZAR 612
million, comfortably servicing the proposed debt stack while building
net cash by Year 5.

1.5 The Ask

Karoo Crown is raising a total funding package of ZAR 864 million,
comprising senior term debt of ZAR 380m (anchored by the Industrial
Development Corporation and DBSA), promoter and strategic equity of ZAR
245m, mezzanine quasi-equity of ZAR 95m, a producer co-operative equity
tranche of ZAR 95m and grant / DTIC incentive funding of ZAR 49m. The
capital plan is fully sized to deliver the abattoir, feedlot, cold
chain, working capital and contingency to commission Year 1 operations,
and excludes any reliance on future capital raises through to Year
5.

Confidential — this business plan is provided to prospective investors and lenders for evaluation purposes only and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written consent of Karoo Crown Beef Group (Pty) Ltd.