Investment manager Roc Partners buys Emerald Grain from Sumitomo
Sumitomo Corporation has sold Emerald Grain. Find out who is the new buyer.
BOUTIQUE Australian investment firm Roc Partners has bought the Emerald Grain business off Japanese trading conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation for an undisclosed sum.
The deal transferring ownership to Roc Partners was signed today, four months after Sumitomo put the grain storage, handling and marketing business on the market.
Emerald Grain owns the Melbourne grain port terminal, grain hauling trains and seven grain storages in Victoria and NSW outright, plus holds a half share in the Werneth storage in Western Victoria.
It also has a grain marketing arm.
Roc Partners owns or manages assets on behalf of superannuation and pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and sophisticated institutional investors.
Emerald Grain managing director David Johnson said Sumitomo had been involved with the grain company for many years, the past five as its parent company.
But Mr Johnson said Sumitomo had been hit hard by COVID-19 and recorded poor quarterly financial results, prompting the Japanese company to shed some of its non-core assets.
He said Sumitomo’s management in Japan had decided about four months ago to offload Emerald Grain after a couple of years of drought and pumping a lot of working capital into the business.
“Roc Partners are entering the grain industry in a year when seasonal conditions are highly favourable in all our operating regions,” Mr Johnson said.
“They recognise the strategic nature of Emerald’s assets and are excited by our growth prospects.
“They are very supportive of our plans to diversify and grow the business.”
The transaction involves all of Emerald’s grain trading and supply chain businesses continuing uninterrupted — a key point, as the east coast grain harvest was nearly halfway completed.
Roc Partners now manages a sizeable portfolio of agricultural and food assets, including Capilano Honey, the Sydney Rock Oyster Company, Flavorite tomato growing business in Victoria, the Pro Ten broiler business in southern NSW and wagyu beef operation, Stone Axe Pastoral.
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