Abu Dhabi Investor Proposes Raising Stake in Food-Producer

(Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi's state-owned investor Senaat is seeking to raise its stake in food-producer Agthia Group, in exchange for the country's leading date trader, amid a flurry of deals by its parent ADQ.

The proposed transaction would create one of the top 10 food and beverages companies in the Middle East and North Africa, ADQ said in a statement on Tuesday. Senaat expects the transaction to close before or during the first quarter of 2021.

Agthia's shares surged as much as 13% in their highest intraday jump since April. They pared gains to 7.8% at 4.00 dirhams as of 12:32 p.m. local time.

Senaat said it would transfer most assets of state-owned date processing firm Al Foah Co. to Agthia, in return for 120 million shares of Agthia convertible at 3.75 dirhams a share, valuing Al Foah at 450 million dirhams ($123 million). On completion, Senaat's stake in Agthia would rise to 59.2% from 51%.

The proposal comes as state holding company ADQ snaps up assets in industries ranging from food to energy, while starting new investment funds. Less than a month ago, it acquired 22% of Aramex PJSC, the Middle East's biggest provider of logistics and transportation solutions.

Al Foah is the largest date processing and packaging company in the world, selling an average of over 108,000 metric tons of dates per year, according to Senaat. It posted revenues of about 504 million dirhams in 2019, compared to 2.04 billion dirhams at Agthia.

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