The 98 canopy hectare orchard is one of the country’s largest privately owned portfolios and was sold through tender to an iwi collective comprising Whakatane based Ngati Awa Group Holdings, Rotorua based Te Arawa Group Holdings and Rotoma No1 Incorporated.
The properties had been owned by Matai Pacific, a company comprising two-thirds United Kingdom investment and the rest from NZ.
Production from the orchard is split evenly between Green and SunGold and is expected to produce 1.3 million trays of each, about 1% of Zespri’s total NZ supply capacity.
The operation also includes 100ha of grazing land, two residential buildings and an option to buy $5.2 million of Zespri shares.
The return to local iwi ownership comes after what was described as a closely contested tender process with a third of bids from overseas parties and two-thirds local industry players from both post-harvest and orchard ownership groups.
Bayleys national country manager Duncan Ross said the sale is notable on a number of levels.
“Firstly, you have the scale of the operation and the fact it attracted significant interest both onshore and offshore, with those foreign interests conducting a considerable amount of due diligence on it.”
Offshore interest included unnamed parties that already have significant primary sector holdings in NZ.
The deal is also notable in that it attracted strong bidding at the higher end of the market range, rather than a discount on value per hectare that sometimes accompanies larger land offerings.
It is admirable how iwi managed to secure the large sum required to complete the deal in a relatively short time, Ross said.
“To compete at the top end of a hot sector like kiwifruit is no mean feat.
“They have obviously got good support from all shareholders and from bankers too.”
Based on market valuations the orchard portion of the deal alone could amount to between $66m and $74m before allowing for Zespri shares and the value of the bare land.
Kiwifruit orchards in the western Bay of Plenty are selling for about $450,000 a hectare for Green and up to $1m a hectare for SunGold.
Ross said there are some other significant sized off-market deals going ahead for kiwifruit blocks, signalling greater investment from big, existing orchard operators and post-harvest processor investment.
“This is quite similar to what we are witnessing in the viticulture sector too.”
Te Arawa Group Holdings chairman Andrew West said together the iwi groups can build a bright future for their people, delivering jobs and economic growth through booming kiwifruit demand.
Collectively, the three iwi groups now oversee significant resources in Bay of Plenty, with Te Arawa representing 21,000 beneficiaries, Rotoma No.1 administering 6600ha on the shores of Lake Rotoma for 1800 shareholders and Ngati Awa Group managing assets for 22 hapu representing 20,000 shareholders.
