Almond groves find a buyer
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday September 19, 2009
THE almond plantations of the failed agribusiness group Timbercorp have been sold to the Singaporean multinational food giant Olam International for $128 million.Timbercorp's liquidators, KordaMentha, said yesterday the agreement was subject to regulatory approval and might take up to two months to complete. Olam, a leading supplier of agricultural products and food ingredients, operates in 60 countries, has more than 6000 customers, and last year had sales of $7 billion.The sale involves 8096 hectares of almond groves near the Murray River around Robinvale in north-western Victoria, and represents about 30 per cent of the Australian almond crop. It also includes 40,825 megalitres of water rights.About 7000 growers invested in the almond plantings under managed investment schemes, but what proceeds growers and other stakeholders will receive from the transaction have yet to be negotiated."That's still unresolved," a spokesman for KordaMentha said. "The bottom line is that the growers own the crop, but they would claim rights beyond that. The liquidators must set up a process to deal with the situation."Another group, Align Funds Management, has been negotiating a plan under which investors would trade their almond assets for units in a listed trust run by Align. However, Align could not be contacted for comment.Olam's executive director, Shekhar Anantharaman, said the acquisition would make Olam Australia's largest almond grower and place it among the top three almond growers in the world.The acquisition would be hard to replicate in any country in the world, he said. The deal is expected to be earnings and value accretive from the 2010 financial year.Despite Timbercorp being in liquidation, Mr Anantharaman said the orchards had been well maintained and were expected to produce about 27,00 tonnes of almonds a year at full maturity.The Timbercorp companies were placed in voluntary administration in April and subsequently went into liquidation. The process of realising or recapitalising Timbercorp's olive and forestry assets is continuing.Olam's head of edible nuts, Ashok Krishen, said Australia was expected to become the world's No. 2 almond producer by 2015. Australia's proximity to the key export markets of China and India placed Olam in a strong position to capitalise on increasing export volumes, Mr Krishen said.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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