Saudi sale for Irish-backed firm

THE Irish-backed agricultural-focused investment vehicle Fondomonte has been sold to a Saudi Arabian firm for about $83 million (€65.3m).

Saudi company Almarai — headquartered in Riyadh and ranked as the largest integrated dairy foods firm in the Middle East — has acquired the Luxembourg -based Fondomonte, which invests in farms in South America.

Fondomonte is chaired by Wexford businessman Oran McGrath, the head of local water purification tablet producer Medentech, and is backed by a number of Irish and British investors.

The company was formed in 2006 by London-based investment manager Mark McLornan and Irish farm manager Jim McCarthy through the company Agro Terra, which provided management services during the start-up phase.

Fondomonte invests in and operates large-scale, high efficiency farms in Argentina, producing maize, wheat and soya.

It specialises in growing crops without disturbing the soil through tillage. The practice also increases the amount of water and organic matter or nutrients in the soil and decreases soil erosion. It thus increases the amount and variety of life in and on the soil.

Fondomonte’s outgoing shareholder base comprises individual and family investors in Ireland and in Britain, along with a number of Irish companies with an agricultural interest.

Its largest shareholder was Wexford-based agri-business the Cooney Furlong Grain Company.

Landmark Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor to Fondomonte’s shareholders on the transaction.

Mr McGrath, who was non-executive chairman and ran the company with directors Walter Furlong and Michael Hannan, said: “This transaction was concluded in the best interests of our shareholders.”

Almarai also has Irish links, in that it was co-established in 1976 by the Saudi royal family and Irish agri-foods pioneers Alastair and Paddy McGuckian.