The board of Australia’s largest fruit and vegetable company, Costa Group, has agreed to a cut-price $1.5 billion takeover offer from a consortium headed by private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners.

The Costa board said the certainty of a cash offer in an uncertain operating environment meant the reduced offer of $3.20 a share was the best outcome for shareholders in the absence of any higher offer. The acceptance was first flagged by The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column on Thursday.