Germany's BayWa Atiengesellschaft has secured Overseas Investment Office approval for its takeover of local fruit marketer Turners & Growers, and has declared its offer unconditional.
The German company, which has global investments across the building, energy and agriculture sectors, has bought some 72.5 percent of T&G shares at a cost of about $157 million and will close its offer today, it said in a statement.
"The takeover is a ground-breaking step towards internationalisation of BayWa,'' the company said.
Group chief executive Klaus Josef Lutz will take T&G's chair, and the company will appoint chief financial officer Andreas Helber, board member responsible for agriculture and fruit Josef Krapf, and head of fruit Dietmar Bahler to the board.
Last week, T&G posted an annual loss of $18.9 million after writing down the value of its kiwifruit orchards as the vine bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv actinadiae ravages the local industry. The fruit marketer also had to shave $3.1 million from its bottom line to pay for legal and advisory costs relating to the takeover, and would also lose an $8.5 million deferred tax asset once control changed hands.
