BayWa, the German corporation that has announced a full takeover offer for New Zealand agribusiness Turners & Growers, has reported growth in the Asian market as a motivation for the buy out.
During a visit to the country BayWa CEO Klaus Lutz told New Zealand newspaper Business Day Turners & Growers’ export arm Delica presented strong growth opportunities through its trade into Asia.
“We believe Turners & Growers is in an excellent position via Delica to expand the market share in Asia and I do not mean only China - I mean especially Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India,' he told the newspaper.
'We believe the structure of Turners & Growers is appropriate to be more successful in these countries,' he added of sales into Asia.
Fresh fruit consumption was stagnant in Europe and declining a little in Germany owing to a shrinking population, Mr Lutz said in an article in the New Zealand Herald.
'If you want to be a part of this fruit business it's really a global international business and the future market is Asia and we believe that Turners & Growers is already in a very good position to expand the business in Asia via different participations and subsidiaries,' he said.
'If this assumption's right, that Asia is one of the future markets, Turners & Growers fits perfectly to our internationalisation strategy for BayWa as a whole group.'
Fruit was a strategic high-growth business unit for BayWa, Mr Lutz said, and the company hoped to strengthen its year-round supply, which Turners & Growers could assist with.
He added that the takeover would enable increased trade efficiencies as Europe accounted for 60 per cent of sales by Turners & Growers’ apple and pear marketing arm Enza.
The takeover is conditional on the approval of New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office and the German Federal Cartel Office.
