Which companies won’t be in the SA Business Index this year?
South Australia has lost four of its largest companies in the past year leading to a reshuffle on the South Australian Business Index Top 100 this year. Find out why.
Four of South Australia’s top companies were sold in the last financial year with the transactions making them ineligible for inclusion in the 2025 edition of the South Australian Business Index (SABI).
The SABI is South Australia’s most-trusted and definitive annual ranking of private and public companies, and will be unveiled by InDaily at an exclusive event on October 17.
Rex Minerals – ranked at #31 last year – was delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange in late October after being acquired by MACH Metals Australia.
The nearly $400 million takeover of the Adelaide-based exploratory miner by the Indonesian group received key approvals from the Foreign Investment Review Board that month, as well as Commonwealth Government approval.
Shareholders were rewarded with a 79 per cent premium on what the company was trading at prior to the takeover announcement in July.
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The company was working on its Hillside project in South Australia – 12km south of Ardrossan – with plans for an open pit mine on an undeveloped copper and gold site, dubbed “the re-birth of the copper industry on the Yorke Peninsula” by Rex.
SAGE Automation is another departure from the 2025 list, having been sold to US firm Tetra Tech in May this year.
SAGE – an industrial digitisation services provider ranked at #45 last year – would enhance Tetra Tech’s digital systems solutions to a broader suite of clients.
The deal was reportedly worth $150 million, with SAGE managing director Adrian Fahey saying at the time that the two companies “share complementary expertise, a strong cultural fit, and shared long-term strategic vision to deliver impactful, future-focused solutions across industrial digitisation, AI and cybersecurity”.
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Consolidation in the South Australian seafood sector also means Clean Seas Seafood – a yellowtail kingfish producer – is also ineligible.
Clean Seas was picked up by fellow South Australian aquaculture company Yumbah, with the deal finalised in July. Last year, the company was ranked #89.
The $30 million deal came right as South Australia’s algal bloom issue was getting noticed by the media and government officials. Since the acquisition, Yumbah announced that the algal bloom crisis was having a serious impact on its bottom line – driving $5 million in losses.
Finally, Centrex – a phosphate miner – left South Australian hands.
The company, ranked #96 last year, was bought by PRL Global Limited, it wanted Centrex’s Queensland-based Ardmore phosphate mine that it planned on restarting post acquisition.
The deal was finalised earlier this month, but Centrex actually went bust in March after being suspended from trading since mid-December 2024.
In a short statement, the phosphate mining firm helmed by managing director Robert Mencel said administrators at FTI were “continuing to operate the businesses of Centrex and Agriflex with a view of assessing possible restructuring options”.
Overall, these departures “did not materially affect the overall value of the Index,” HLB Mann Judd partner Katelyn Adams said.
“Unlike prior years, where the Adbri and OTR transactions reshaped the list, there were no top-tier corporate deals in 2025 with a similar effect,” she said.
The South Australian Business Index lunch and networking event, which announces the top 100 South Australian businesses and delves into the insights it provides about the state’s economic future, will be held on Friday, 17 October at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Purchase your tickets today.
