New Zealand-based fresh produce company Turners & Growers (T&G) is poised to acquire Hawke's Bay apple exporter Apollo Fruit, Eurofruit understands.
While a final agreement is yet to be reached, sources close to both companies say the negotiating parties have agreed terms and instructed their respective lawyers, accountants and banking partners to hammer out the details.
Apollo's owners Bruce and Ross Beaton flew to Berlin earlier this week and were due to hold talks with senior directors from both T&G and its parent company, Munich-based conglomerate BayWa, prior to the start of the annual trade exhibition Fruit Logistica, which takes place in the German capital on 5-7 February.
One industry insider based in the country suggested that now was an opportune moment for Apollo's owners to sell, following a highly profitable 2013/14 campaign for New Zealand's apple export trade.
'It's been known for a while that a couple of apple businesses in the Hawke's Bay were up for sale,' they commented. 'After the season we've just had, I would say it was the perfect moment to sell.'
The proposed takeover is believed to include more than 500ha of orchard land owned and farmed by the Beaton family, meaning it would most likely require regulatory approval from New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office – as was the case in late 2011 when BayWa took its majority shareholding in T&G.
What such a deal would give T&G is an opportunity to plant more of its proprietary varieties Jazz and Envy, as well as top up supply of non-licensed apples such as Braeburn and Royal Gala.
Built in 1998, Apollo's Whakatu packhouse was New Zealand's first purpose-built, controlled atmosphere facility and, prior to deregulation of the country's apple business, formed part of T&G division Enza's network of export-grade packing and storage centres.
Asked if Apollo had already been sold to a rival NZ apple exporter, a spokesperson for the company said there was 'no truth' to rumours suggesting a deal had been completed.
'On the contrary,' the spokesperson added, 'in late 2013, Apollo Apples Ltd consolidated, with the Beaton family buying out the Mossman family. The Beaton Family look forward to continuing to grow the Apollo brand and the relationships that have been developed over the past five years.'
BayWa declined to comment, but did indicate a press statement would be forthcoming.
Back in November, BayWa chief executive Klaus-Josef Lutz told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that the group was pushing hard to acquire another fruit trading business before the middle of 2014 and was already in negotiations with 'another international fruit dealer'.
