AgriNurture buys into 2 Chinese food companies

Fruit and vegetable grower AgriNurture Inc., whose shares are listed on the stock exchange, has agreed to take majority stakes in two Chinese food companies for $2.5 million. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday, AgriNurture said it will take a 51-percent equity ownership each in Hong Kong-based Sunshine Supplies International Co. Ltd. and China’s Xiamen Wantaixing Trading Corp. It will pay Sunshine Supplies $1 million and Wantaixing $1.5 million on staggered basis. Sunshine Supplies sells fruits and vegetables to Hong Kong and Macau and to Europe while Wantaixing sells plastic, feeds, grain, and banana in the Greater China. “With the acquisitions [in] Sunshine Supplies and Wantaixing, the company has ensured a continued and strengthened growth in its international businesses," AgriNurture said. AgriNurture chairman and CEO Antonio Tiu had said earlier that the company was looking to acquire a small- to medium-sized company in Indonesia valued between $1 million to $3 million. AgriNurture specializes in “farm-to-plate" business concept, which means it handles business activities from farming, packing, trading, distribution, processing, canning, and retailing. AgriNurture, which was listed by way of introduction in 2009, plans to raise between P1 billion to P1.5 billion through an initial public offering this fourth quarter. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV