Is there another major investment fund gaining ground in horticulture? According to Australian publications, the investment firm Morrison & Co is in late stage talks to buy Sundrop Farms.
It's one of the most remarkable greenhouse projects of the last years: Sundrop Farms. The Australian farm uses a desalination plant and a solar field with more than 23,000 tracking mirrors to purify saltwater into irrigation water. After a trial instalment was erected in 2010, the 20 hectare facility opened in Port Augusta in 2016. To realise this expansion, in 2014 private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts invested $100 million in the company. The company is owned by Saumweber Holdings.
Expansion plans
It has been no secret Sundrop Farms has expansion plans and wants to conquer new markets. In the last couple of years the company has been active in Portugal and Tennessee, US. “We have still aggressive global plans about how we want to grow, but we’ll always do that in a measured format. We’ll never knee jerk or quickly react in a way that affects the outcome”, Steve Marafiote, Australian managing director, said in 2017.
Last year Sundrop partnered up with Investec, an international specialist banking and asset management group, to explore strategic options for the company, including partnerships, to "capitalize on the company's growth opportunities in Australia and abroad".
New partners
“The farm has been successfully operating for almost two years and as a result we’re seeking new partners with whom Sundrop can embark on its next stage of exciting growth and bring our highly sustainable farming operations to new products and regions,” Sundrop CEO Philipp Saumweber said.
And now there is the investment firm Morrison & Co. According to the Australian Financial Review, they are in late stage talks to buy Sundrop Farms. The deal would have Morrison take full control of Sundrop and Sundrop would be the maiden asset in Morrison's new investment fund that targets "growth infrastructure".
H.R.L. Morrison & Co is an alternative asset manager focusing primarily on infrastructure, private equity and property investment with offices in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. The possible investment would be the companies first in horticulture.