New Zealand fresh produce giant Turners & Growers has signalled it will likely divest itself of large parcels of real estate worth tens of millions of dollars.
The company’s recently appointed CEO, Geoff Hipkins, told Fairfax New Zealand sales of the company’s buildings and orchards could be significant.
'We have a number of properties right throughout the length and breadth of the country,' Hipkins said.'We're looking at a number of reasonably significant sales in the tens of millions - they're reasonably large properties.'
German company Baywa recently bought a majority stake in T&G and its CEO Klaus Lutz, who also took on the role of chairman at T&G, told investors at the annual general meeting the company could lease back properties it sold. The company's properties were last year valued at more than NZ$100m (US$78.6m).
Lutz also announced the company could look to sell off non-core operations including flower auction company FloraMax as well as shareholdings in McKay Shipping and Alan Blair Properties.
Revenue generated through property sales could then be invested in packaging and production facilities and in modernising existing facilties, he told the news service.
Hipkins said T&G could look to invest in further consolidation of the apple industry, both at home and abroad.
BayWa took on a 73 per cent shareholding in T&G in March of this year after winning approval from New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office.
T&G is the largest distributor, marketer and exporter of fresh produce in New Zealand with global fresh produce sales of around NZ$1bn each year.
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