Investment company Guinness Peat Group (GPG) announced this morning it would sell New Zealand horticultural company Turners & Growers along with all but one of its assets.
In a statement to the stock exchange this morning (11 February), the company said it would begin the orderly sale of all of its assets except thread maker Coats, and return the money to shareholders, reported Business Day.
The sale is conditional on approval at GPG’s annual meeting in June, being held in New Zealand for the first time, and a new executive will be appointed to manage the sell-down.
GPG holds a 66 per cent stake in Turners & Growers (T&G), and its potential sale has been rumoured at for some time, sparked by suggestions from GPG founder Sir Ron Brierley last year that he would wind up the company when he retired.
T&G chairman Tony Gibbs said the independent board that decided on the sale had made the right decision, the Business Day reported.
Mr Gibbs was dropped as GPG’s director last year, after publically opposing plans to spin off the company’s Australian arm.
“I think the independent board who have made this decision have moved in the right direction for the small shareholders and I applaud it,” he said.
“I tried very hard last June to make all this come about. I was incredibly uncomfortable with the direction GPG was heading. As a director I felt it was completely and utterly wrong, inappropriate.”
GPG’s assets, excluding Coats, are reportedly worth NZ$1.28bn (US$974m) as of September.
Beyond GPG, T&G’s major shareholders are Ecuadorian banana distributor Pacific Fruit Group (12 per cent holding), which trades under the Bonita label, and New Zealand insurance group Accident Compensation Corporation (5.5 per cent holding).
T&G also runs horticultural subsidiaries Enza and Delica Global, and holds shares in a number of other global fresh produce businesses.
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