Australia-Multi million dollar farm deal completed.

AUSTRALIA-LARGE FARM DEAL COMPLETED.

Futuris Corporation has completed its divestment of its 43pc stake in Australian Agricultural Company.

After last week selling 19.9pc of the company to leading barrister Alan Myers for $89.8m, and then a further 14.99pc for $67.4 million to the IFFCO Group earlier this week (both sales at $1.70 per share), Futuris today announced it had reached an agreement with IFFCO to take a further 5pc of AAco for $22.4m.

However, the additional acquisition by IFFCO (again at $1.70 a share) will be subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board. The IFFCO Group is a privately owned UAE-based business house, which manufactures and markets a range of mass-market consumer products, including food and beverages.

Futuris’s remaining 7.4 million AAco shares will go to domestic and international institutions at $1.50 a share by way of a book build conducted by Citigroup Global Markets Australia, ABN AMRO Equity Capital Markets Australia, and ABN AMRO Morgans Ltd.

In total the divestment of 113.1 million shares is estimated to generate $190.8m for Futuris, which is selling its stake in a bid to reduce its overall debt.