US-based fund to acquire stake in AgriNurture

A US-based asset management company is set to acquire a substantial stake in listed food exporter AgriNurture Inc. AgriNurture told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday that it has "received and accepted" Black River Capital Partners Fund (Food), LP, a fund which is managed by Black River Asset Management, LLC, to acquire 28.11-percent stake in the company for $30.45 million. A due diligence will be undertaken for the transaction. "The parties are given 60 days from 30 September 2011 within which to formalize the structure for Black River's investment and execute the formal and binding agreement/s," AgriNurture said. In August AgriNurture disclosed that it has acquired the controlling stake in The Big Chill Inc., which sells various beverages and food products under four brands. The company said it would be paying P20 million to acquire 1,020 shares, which represent 51 percent, in TBC. TBC operates the brands "Big Chill", "Fresh Bar", "C'Verde" and "Canefusion" with 40 branches nationwide. "The advances may be given in lump sum or in such tranches as (AgriNurture) may deem proper, provided, that the entire amount must be completed on or before December 31, 2011," the company said. Within 30 days from completion of the due diligence review, the company shall also have the option to convert the entire advances into shares of stock in TBC and after the conversion, AgriNurture shall then own 80 percent of the total issued and outstanding capital stock of TBC. If AgriNurture decides not to convert its advances to TBC, the advances shall be paid by the latter to AgriNurture within 12 months from June 30, 2012 with a 4-percent interest per annum. AgriNurture had also disclosed that it received fresh capital through the subscription of some 6.19-million shares by five investors. The subscription of Allan Jason Tan, Thomas Man, Kuo Jung Yuan, and Jaime Tiu enabled the company to receive P48.55 million in fresh funds. The shares were sold at P7.84 each or a discount of 10 percent based on the average closing price of the company in the last five trading days. AgriNurture will also advance P244 million to TBC "for business expansion..., specifically in the number of stores and products to be operated and carried by TBC." - CMA/OMG, GMA News