Acquisitions remained an important topic in the horticultural industry, and although the big boom seems to have passed, there's more than enough going on. North American growers are acquired by investors or by their conculleagues, suppliers in the bio industry, and of course AppHarvest. Here are some stories you might have missed.
Nourse Farms to expand with tissue culture lab and 7-acre greenhouse
North American berry plant propagator Nourse Farms has partnered with Solum Partners, an investment management firm focused on the food and agriculture industry, to expand and modernize its propagation footprint.
Independent investment firm buys NatureSweet
Silver Ventures announced the sale of 
NatureSweet®. Blue Road Capital, an independent investment firm focused on vertically integrated food and agricultural business, has acquired NatureSweet, capitalizing on the strength of the brand and convinced of its growth potential.
following minority stake
Denso acquires remainder of Certhon's shares
Denso has signed a definitive agreemen
t to acquire Certhon. Earlier in 2020, Denso took a minority stake in the family-owned company. Now the next step is being taken, and the Japanese robot manufacturer will acquire all of Certhon's shares.
Paul Boers Manufacturing acquires Omni Structures
Paul Boers Manufacturing has
acquired Omni Structures on June 30, 2023. Brad Salter, the previous long-time owner of Omni Structures, was looking for a succession plan for his company and is very pleased with the sale of his company to Paul Boers Manufacturing.
AgriFORCE acquisition terminated
Delphy Group remains independent
Delphy Group has decided to terminate the merging process with Canadian company AgriFORCE Growing Systems. AgriFORCE, a publicly traded company, gained attention in the international horticulture sector over the past year due to a series of intended investments. Delphy Groep will no longer be a part of this journey.
UK grower APS eyes expansion following P3P acquisition
Cheshire-based A Pearson Holdings Limited (APS), which grows over 500 million tomatoes a year in the UK, has been acquired by the P3P Partners group.
The Pearson family, and other former shareholders, have sold 80% of the business to P3P for an undisclosed sum. This provides the business with access to additional funding to further grow and develop into other fresh produce areas.
EW Group to acquire Spanish berry breeder Planasa
EW Group, a German-based strategic family Holding, has signed an agreement for the takeover of Planasa Group from international private equity firm Cinven and the Spanish family office, Label Investments.
Beneficial Insectary acquires Sierra Biological
Beneficial Insectary and Sierra Biological announced the closing of a
transaction whereby Beneficial Insectary acquired 100% of the equity in its distributor Sierra Biological. This transaction consolidates a long-standing and successful collaboration between the two companies whereby Sierra Biological, in addition to commercializing a limited range of products produced in-house, mainly distributes products manufactured by Beneficial Insectary.
With farms in Kuwait and Singapore
Growy acquires assets and team of Kalera International (&ever)
Growy Holdings BV has acquired all of the assets, IP, and the core team of Kalera International, formerly known as &ever. This adds the fully operational automated farm in Kuwait as well as the new farm in Singapore to Growy’s portfolio.
Ard van de Kreeke, Founder and CEO of Growy, says: “The acquisition is an important milestone on our way to building one of the first financially viable business models in the indoor vertical farming industry. It gives us access to strong technology, IP, and an experienced management team”.
$127 million sale-leaseback of Berea greenhouse
COFRA Holding and Mastronardi acquire AppHarvest's Berea greenhouse
On December 27, 2022, AppHarvest announced that it has finalized the sale-leaseback of its Berea, Kentucky, lettuce greenhouse for just over $127 million and has opened its 60-acre greenhouse in Richmond, Kentucky. AppHarvest has entered an agreement with Mastronardi Berea LLC, a joint venture between Mastronardi Produce
and COFRA Holding, for the sale-leaseback of its Berea greenhouse for leafy greens for approximately $127 million with an initial lease rate of 7.5% over 10 years, with four renewal terms of five years each.
Bosch Growers starts US expansion with AppHarvest Somerset acquisition
Pioneering is something they can do at Bosch Growers. Six years ago, the family business started growing blackberries under glass in addition to their bell pepper crop. And now, it's time for a new challenge. Last week, they bought one of the three greenhouses of the American nursery AppHarvest. It's a more than 12-acre facility in Somerset, Kentucky. "It's a huge opportunity, and we're looking forward tremendously to getting started here," says Wouter van den Bosch, who together with his brother Tijmen will run the Bosch Berries Kentucky company.
Suppliers object
Investor firm buys other AppHarvest facilities
AppHarvest's three greenhouses were auctioned last week. In a single bid, the two largest farms in Morehead and Richmond were offered. Investment firm Equilibrium submitted the only bid—a $113 million credit bid—for these two 60-acre tomato-growing facilities, leading to the cancellation of the scheduled auction.
Pure Harvest to acquire RedSea’s Saudi Arabian farming operations
Pure Harvest Smart Farms and RedSea (RedSea) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for Pure Harvest to take over RedSea's existing six-hectare controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) production facility near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This strategic sale of its fresh produce business, which operates under the Red Sea FarmsTM brand, is part of RedSea's strategic transition into a pure-play technology company, focusing on the development and commercialization of AgriClimate technology solutions. It also aligns with Pure Harvest's expansion ambitions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its continued business model innovations, now deploying an asset-light, technology-enabled service model termed "franchise farming," wherein Pure Harvest partners with incumbent farmers in any market to scale sustainable farming solutions worldwide.