Capespan acquisition to increase topfruit production
Novo pack house is a state-of-the-art topfruit packing facility situated in Paarl in the Western Cape, strategically located to service topfruit farmers in the Ceres, Villiersdorp, Piketberg, Grabouw and Boland areas. The pack house is equipped with modern packing equipment and technologies. It has the capacity to pack 120 000 bins annually.
Theewaterskloof Estate is a premium pome fruit farm situated in Villiersdorp with 300ha of topfruit under production. The farm produces apples, pears and plums of high export quality. The Theewaterskloof acquisition complements the 110 hectares pome fruit expansion earmarked for Capespan’s other topfarm, Applethwaite in Elgin, increasing Capespan’s combined topfruit production footprint to over 630 hectares over the next three years.
According to Tonie Fuchs, chief executive of Capespan Farms, these acquisitions are an integral part of Capespan’s growth objectives within its primary production unit. In addition, Novo and Theewaterskloof will add significant synergies within Capespan’s global fruit procurement footprint.
“Novo pack house entrenches Capespan’s access to the downstream value chain which will ensure better service delivery and a more efficient and cost effective route-to-market for its customers. It enjoys an established customer base and will be operated by Capespan as the first choice packing facility for growers in its service area.”
According to Johan Dique, managing director of the Capespan Group, the acquisitions of Novo pack house and Theewaterskloof Estate are in line with the Capespan Group’s global growth strategy to grow its business with strategic acquisitions in production, distribution and service entities in order to provide its customers with wider and more efficient service solutions.
“Following these acquisitions and current developments, Capespan Group will own and control more than two thousand hectares in Southern African topfruit, citrus and grape production, supplying fresh produce to customers spread across the globe. Capespan’s own production is strategically positioned specifically to enhance our Group’s service and product offering to all our third party growers and our retail customers. We enhance and add to our third party grower product basket through Capespan’s own production in order to ensure a sustainable 12 month supply of quality fresh produce”, he added.
Capespan Group last year also acquired a 25% stake in Good View Group, a leading diversified fruit and vegetable distributor in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as a 75% stake in South African logistics operator Aspen, which was re-branded as Contour Logistics. In addition, Capespan launched a joint venture, Mayfresh, in Turkey, aimed at providing better access into the Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean markets for Capespan’s clients. Earlier this month, Capespan announced the acquisition of a 25% stake in Germany based vanWylick Fruchtimport, a leading
European fresh produce distributor and service provider.
For more information:
Tonie Fuchs
Email: tonie@cgl.co.za