The owner of UK brand Billy + Margot has been sold to an Asian consortium for one billion Australian dollars in a deal which will see the ‘Dragons’ Den’ company launch a range of premium dog food products.

Real Pet Food Company has ambitious plans to become one of the world's top five pet food companies from its current position of No.15 after the sale was announced.

The company has been acquired by a consortium comprising Chinese agribusiness company New Hope Group, Beijing private equity firm Hosen Capital and the Singapore Government-backed investment vehicle Temasek.

The firm, previously known as VIP Pet Foods until a name change in August 2015, operates from seven plants in Australia and two in New Zealand and it has made multiple acquisitions in the past two years including Billy + Margot. 

The Billy + Margot brand is being redeveloped and will be used as a main weapon in the company’s US and UK expansion plans.

The founder of Billy + Margot, Marie Jones (pictured with Margot above), said: “From its humble beginnings in 2012, Billy + Margot has had an extraordinary journey from BBC Dragons’ Den in the UK to the Australian acquisition in 2016.

“This latest announcement is another exciting development which will see Billy + Margot launch a range of super premium dog food products covering four key areas of pet food nutrition – dry, wet, chilled and raw. What started as a one product, UK based company, is now becoming a global brand, which is very exciting.”

The New Billy + Margot Brand will be showcased at Interzoo 2018, along with two other brands – Ivory Coat and Farmers Market – that Real Pet Food Company will be launching in to Europe next year.

Real Pet Food CEO David Grant said high-spending ‘millennials’ in North America and China, who are becoming cat and dog owners, were behind strong growth rates.

Real Pet Food Company generated revenue growth in ‘double digits’ and is on course to deliver sales of A$500 million in 2017-18.

VIP Pet Foods was originally established in 1994 by the Quinn family, and Quadrant bought the business in mid-2015 for $410 million. The overall business now employs 900 staff and produces 200,000 tonnes of pet food annually.

A five-year plan had been put in place to expand the operations. New Hope Group's Australasian chief executive Nick Dowling said: "The future of this business is in the northern hemisphere", adding that the Chinese consortium had extensive knowledge of the Chinese market, where a large proportion of pet food sales occurred online.”