AUSTRALIA-UNITED ARAB EMIRATES BY INTO FARMING COMPANY.
An increasing interest in beef in diverse markets was shown yesterday when Futuris Corp sold another 14.99 per cent of Australian Agricultural Co.
United Arab Emirates-based Iffco Group was the buyer.
As Citi, ABN Amro and ABN Amro Morgans began a global bookbuild to place Futuris’s outstanding balance of 20.6 million AACo shares, Futuris bedded down 39.6 million shares with Iffco, at $1.70 each, taking in a total of $67.4 million.
The sales to Iffco, a manufacturer and marketer of consumer products, followed last week’s agreement by Futuris to sell 19.9 per cent of its AACo stake, or 52.8 million shares, to Australian barrister Allan Myers at $1.70 a share, a total of $89.8 million.
The sale of the stake all but frees AACo, which has been trying to win back its independence, from a long alliance with Futuris which eventually foundered on the cattle company’s inability to return enough to an entrepreneurial investor, as Futuris once was.
AACo will now press on with plans to lift its NT interests by buying Mr Myers’s properties there, while selling three Queensland Gulf Country stations. It will also look for venture partners in its properties to unlock part of their value and lift recurrent income through management fees.
