Agribusiness awakening

If mergers and acquisitions volumes are anything to go by, agribusiness investing is increasingly on the minds of corporates and private equity professionals worldwide; some $14.2bn has been transacted by the sector so far this year. This compares to $10.6bn in 2013, $9.7bn in 2012 and the numbers keeps decreasing as you go further back in time.

The largest of the year was the acquisition of Noble Agri in Hong Kong by a consortium of investors led by COFCO and Hopu Investment Management. A subsidiary of COFCO was in turn acquired by private equity group KKR & Co alongside Baring Private Equity and Hopu again alongside others.

Agribusiness still accounts for a relatively small portion of private equity portfolios and there are few private equity firms that are dedicated to agri wholeheartedly. But there are increasing numbers of private equity firms, old and new, that are turning their heads towards agri as the sector’s global importance becomes clear.

In this compendium we aim to give you a taste of the recent deals in the market.