Street Talk

Mystery suitor for Kiwi honey producer Comvita revealed

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May 20, 2024 – 2.11pm

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It’s been three months since New Zealand-listed honey producer Comvita said it had attracted a “highly conditional unsolicited, indicative, non-binding proposal” from a “credible offshore party”.

The $NZ120 million ($109 million) company – its shares have almost halved in value in the past year – declined to reveal the suitor’s identity to investors. In an update on Monday, Comvita said the party remained in due diligence as it sought to “appraise both the near-term and longer-term outlook [for Comvita] in its global markets”.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.