’Femi Asu
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc has announced its intention to divest its stake in Teragro Commodities Limited, its agribusiness subsidiary.
The company, in a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said it disclosed in its 2017 Annual Report that a careful review of the long-term proposition of its play in the juice concentrate market revealed a number of issues.
It said, “As a result of this, the board decided to exit its investment in Teragro Commodities Limited and is currently working together with the Benue State Government, a key stakeholder, towards identifying suitable partners to drive the value proposition of the business going forward.
“It was also reported in our 2017 Annual Report that we expect to close the transaction in a timely manner and maximise benefits for stakeholders and that the decision to exit Teragro is not expected to have any significant impact on the group’s business .”
According to Transcorp, Teragro contributed less than 0.03 per cent of the group revenue and 0.2 per cent of group assets.
“We wish to clarify that the divestment process is still ongoing and has not been concluded,” the company added.
In May 2011, Teragro, Transcorp and the Benue State government executed a deal that resulted in the creation of the Teragro Benfruit juice concentrate plant.
“The Teragro fruit juice concentrate plant, has a production input capacity of 26,500 metric tonnes of oranges per annum, is fully equipped with product receiving and juice extraction units, as well as juice concentration and aseptic filling units. The plant also produces pineapple concentrate and mango puree,” Teragro said on its website.
The company said it had since pioneered the use of modern agribusiness technology in Nigeria, developing, manufacturing and distributing high-quality consumer goods for local and international markets.
“Teragro is a full value chain enterprise, with the objective of creating value in agricultural raw materials by using technology to develop, manufacture, distribute and market high quality consumer goods for all markets,” it added. Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: theeditor@punchng.com