AgriNurture Inc. (ANI), the listed firm led by businessman Antonio Tiu, on Thursday said Singapore-based Black River, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Black River Capital Partners Fund (Food) LP, has increased its stake in the company.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ANI said that Vikings Asia Agri Ventures BV, formerly Solveigh Philippines Agri Investments BV, has sold 50 million shares through a block sale of P13.642 per share for a total price of P682.1 million. The said shares are equivalent to about 5 percent of ANI’s total outstanding common shares.
Black River Fund was the buyer of the said shares, Tiu said. He welcomed the investment and said “it’s a boost of confidence.” AgriNurture’s share price was last traded at P14.82 apiece.
In 2013, the asset management company was already an investor in ANI with an investment of as much as 30.92 percent.
Black River is a food-focused fund and was used to be owned by Cargill, the world’s largest agriculture company. It first bought a 28.11-percent stake in ANI in 2011.
ANI, an agricultural exporter, earlier reported a nearly 50-percent jump in net income to P70.72 million in the first half of the year, from last year’s P48.98 million last year.
Consolidated sale of goods and services amounted to P2.4 billion during the period, almost three times higher than the P846.31 million registered last year.
Of the different businesses, the Philippine operations contributed 47 percent while sales from foreign operations accounted for 53 percent of consolidated sales.
Local distribution sales rose by 29 percent to P62.15 million for the first half, from last year’s P48.01 million, mainly due to improvement in operations. The group’s export sales amounted to P1.01 billion.
ANI said it will continue increasing its shipments of bananas, mango and beverage products.
It expects to increase its sales volumes in the last two quarters of the year with the approval of Republic Act 11203 which will allow ANI to import rice.