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.