Simon Meads

The venture capital firm backed by Korean messenging app giant Daum Kakao is moving into controlled environment farming with its new deal.

Farmer shareholders overwhelmingly approved the sale of half the company to the subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Bright Food in return for a NZ$261m capital injection.

The private equity firm is making its first agri acquisition in more than 15 years, buying Dutch flower breeder Dümmen Orange for a reported €500m.

The Chinese conglomerate is seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision to block its purchase of the country’s largest dairy farm.

Sun European is taking over the largest supplier of fresh cut flowers from Africa to European retailers in a deal said to be worth £100m.

Low prices, hefty reserves and promising US harvests will drive profits for large agribusinesses this year and next, Fitch Ratings says.

The deal earns Change Capital 2.7 times the equity it invested in the scallop fishing company as Macduff's founders, the Beaton Family, also exited in a £98.4m deal.

UBS and Bill Gates are among the backers in the Series D round for the start-up which is making meat and cheese from plant-based proteins.

The annual meat production of Brazil and Argentina, and 15m hectares of farmland, are needed to cater for increased Chinese demand for meat over the next decade.

The government is inviting international and domestic investors to make offers for 60,000 hectares of prime sugar- and rice-producing land in the southern agricultural region.