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Agribusiness-focused investment holding group Zeder said on Monday it has agreed to sell most of fruit farmer and marketer Capespan to agriculture-focused investment firm Agrarius.
Capespan comprises two divisions, namely the sales and marketing division, with a global footprint in sourcing and marketing fruit, and the primary agriculture farming division, which is mainly SA and Namibia-based and consists of several primary production units.
Capespan produces grapes, citrus and pome fruit as well as the Novo fruit packhouse operation situated in Paarl and the agreement excludes the pome farming unit - or apples and pears.
Zeder holds about 93% of Capespan, and as of the end of February, Zeder’s interest in Capespan, including the pome unit, was valued at about R1.05 billion.
Valued at about R2.6 billion on the JSE, Zeder - part of the PSG Group stable founded by Jannie Mouton - has been steadily disposing of businesses. It has been looking to unlock value for shareholders, and like many investment holding companies, its shares have traded at a discount of about a third to their underlying value.
In March 2022, the company sold disposal of its interest in transport-services business The Logistics Group (TLG) for R1.57 billion; a month later it unbundled its 42.2% stake in KAL Group, previously known as Kaap Agri, to shareholders. In January 2023, the company sold its majority stake in Agrivision Africa, which owns farms in Zambia that produce wheat and soya, for R160 million. The group's biggest remaining interest is specialist agricultural seeds and agrochemicals company, Zaad.
READ | Zeder eyes tougher agricultural conditions as it looks to sell its remaining businesses
The sale is to an entity of Agrarius Sustainabilty Engineered, which operates a JSE-listed R10 billion Shariah-compliant sustainability-focused asset-backed note programme. This is exclusively focused on investments in the agriculture sector value chain, serving a similar purpose as normal interest-bearing bonds, though it aims to reward investors through a profit-sharing mechanism in order to remain compliant with Islamic law, which forbids usury.
READ | JSE's first Shari'ah-compliant and sustainable note aims to shake up financing in agriculture
Shares in Zeder had lifted about 8% on Monday but are still down about 10% over the past one year.
