Zeder leaps on bids for pome division and Zaad Holdings

The share price of agribusiness-focused investment holding group Zeder jumped on Thursday after the company said it had received several approaches from third parties regarding its pome division and Zaad Holdings.

The company’s share price was up 5.5% at R1.73 at close of trade on the JSE on Thursday before the Easter long weekend.

In February, the group implemented the disposal by its unit Zeder Financial Services (ZFS) of its shareholding in Capespan Group, excluding its pome fruit primary production operations and the Novo fruit packhouse.

Pome is a general term for deciduous fruit such as apples and pears that have a core with seeds surrounded by an edible outer layer and skin.

Zeder said on Thursday that it wanted to consider these approaches in a manner that was fair to the third parties and the respective management teams of the portfolio investments.

It has appointed PSG Capital and Coöperatieve Rabobank as co-advisers to consider any Zaad-specific approaches and potentially embark on formal processes if appropriate.

It expects the evaluation of these approaches to take several months.

The company, valued at about R2.5bn on the JSE, sold its 92.98% interest in fruit distributor Capespan Group via its subsidiary ZFS to special-purpose acquisition vehicle 3 Sisters, owned and funded by Agrarius Agri Value Chain (Agrarius OpCo), for R550m, of which Zeder received R511.4m.

Agrarius OpCo operates a R10bn sustainability focused asset-backed note programme and is administered by diversified financial services group 27four Investment Managers.

Zeder was listed on the JSE in 2006 as a vehicle to consolidate PSG’s various agribusiness industry holdings.

mackenziej@arena.africa