Omnia acquires Oro Agri to expand global reach

Omnia Holdings Limited, a South African corporation, announced effective April 30, 2018 it has completed its acquisition of Oro Agri SEZC Limited to expand its sales and marketing capabilities in agricultural markets around the world. Omnia’s Agriculture division is active in plant nutrition products in South Africa and Southern Africa and is an international player in the bio-stimulant market with product sales in 28 countries. Oro Agri is a manufacturer of agricultural adjuvants, bio-pesticides and foliar nutrients for agricultural, greenhouse, nursery and turf applications with sales in over 80 countries. It will now operate as a division of the Omnia Group.

“The Oro Agri purchase puts Omnia’s agricultural business on an accelerated growth path. Their established global distribution network will provide additional channels for Omnia’s products and will expand Omnia’s international footprint. We see a great opportunity to take advantage of Oro Agri’s experience in these global markets,” is how Adriaan de Lange, Omnia group managing director explains the rationale behind the acquisition. He continues, “It also diversifies our risk across a greater number of agricultural markets which is a strategy Omnia will continue to pursue with possible future acquisitions.”

Erroll Pullen, Oro Agri CEO, also sees opportunities in joining the Omnia Agricultural Division, “The companies’ operations complement each other. Omnia is particularly strong in Africa while Oro Agri has well established operations in the U.S., Brazil and Europe. We will also support each other in shared markets such as South America, Australia and South Africa.” He adds, “In addition, Omnia’s products mesh very well with our existing product line globally and on-going product development efforts around the world. Being part of Omnia will not only strengthen our R&D capabilities but also allow us to immediately market a more complete product portfolio including plant nutrients in certain parts of the world. In South Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa where OMNIA is a market leader in plant nutrition, and where ORO AGRI has a significant presence in the plant protection market, both entities will continue to focus in their respective fields of expertise. In this region, more focus will be placed on joint product development which would eventually benefit all customers of the group. This is not only a great deal for both companies globally but also for our distributor and grower customers around the world.”