Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Martin Kadzere
19 November 2009
Harare — AFRICA Land Fund has gained control of Ariston Holdings after buying Delta Beverages' 41 percent equity in the horticultural firm for about US$4 million.
The deal went through on Monday on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange as 177 085 674 million shares exchanged hands at a price of US$2,58 each.
The Luxemburg-based fund, a group of European investors with interests in agricultural projects in Africa used its investment vehicle in Mauritius, Proalia 1 Investments to acquire a controlling stake in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed horticultural concern.
Delta, the country's largest beer and soft drinks maker bought Ariston two years ago to tap into its foreign currency reserves, at the height of economic challenges characterised by acute shortages of foreign currency.
Sources familiar with the transaction said yesterday "it is a good deal" for Ariston in view of diverse expertise the new investor has in agro-based projects.
Africa Land Fund has operations in South Africa through a joint venture with Russelstone, a South African management firm with specialist expertise and interests in agriculture and financial services. Russelstone flagship, Grainvest, is involved in agriculture derivatives.
Through joint ventures, Africa Land Fund is developing a jatropha project in Tete, Mozambique and a tilapia project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The fund has diverse access to technical expertise in crop production, horticulture, beef production, aqua culture and forestry. It has strong ties with agro-based companies in Argentina.
Ariston has five operations involved in growing and processing of tea, coffee, macadamia nuts, bananas, pome, stone fruit, flowers and rose. Last week, the group reported tea exports and local sales declined 55 percent and 67 percent respectively in the full year to September 2009.
Ariston blamed the poor volumes performance on delayed rains, labour shortages, limited power supplies and working capital constraints. Ariston's retail operations volumes were also suppressed in comparison to the prior year, but the firm said the operations had begun to show signs of recovery.
Depressed income levels and non-availability of funding, said Ariston, had slowed the pace of recovery of the horticultural concern's retail operations. The uninspiring export and local volume sales weighed down on the group's ability to generate revenue, after the firm managed only US$3 million.
This saw the group posting a US$2 million loss during the period under review.
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