Greenergy acquires stake in agriculture firm

Listed firm Greenergy Holdings Inc., which recently unloaded its majority stake in a renewable energy project to fund other “green” ventures, has bought into agriculture company AgriNurture Inc. (Ani).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Greenergy said it signed a subscription agreement with Ani for 85,990,533 primary common shares of the agriculture firm at an issue price of P3 a share. That is a total subscription price of P257.97 million.

Upon issuance of the shares, Greenergy will acquire 25.92 percent of the total issued and outstanding shares of Ani. Greenergy said the acquisition would be “for the diversification of the portfolio of the company to other green projects.”

Ani is a publicly listed company incorporated in February 1997.

The agriculture firm has since diversified into various agri-commercial businesses, particularly the export of fresh Philippine carabao mango, cavendish bananas and pineapples under the FCA brand, as well as coconut water under the “La Natural” brand. These comprise Ani’s main export revenue stream.

Ani operates in the Greater China region, Australia and Europe through subsidiaries and joint venture partners.

In the Philippines, Ani operates through its direct and indirect subsidiaries under the so-called farm-to-plate model. Among its units is the First Class Agriculture Corp., which distributes fresh produce to various channels under the FCA brand.

Ani owns canning and tetra packaging facilities in the export processing zone and fruit processing and banana farms in Mindanao. It also engages in rice milling, integrated with micro-financing for farmers in partnership with Chinese agricultural firm Beidahuang.