Abu Dhabi merges two food and beverage companies to create a...

Dubai – Reuters: The Emirate of Abu Dhabi intends to merge two food and beverage companies to establish a new national entity in this sector, as part of the merger efforts for the oil-rich emirate led by the government-owned Holding Company.
The Holding Company said on Tuesday that its affiliated Senaat Group had submitted a non-binding offer to the Board of Directors of Agthia Group, listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, to transfer the majority of Al Foah Company’s shares to it. And “Al Foah” owned by “Senaat” is the largest company for the manufacture and canning of dates in the world. It was established in Abu Dhabi in 2005, and has produced an average of 108,000 tons annually over the past four years.
Over the past fifteen years, the company has managed to achieve a leading position in the UAE dates market, and has a solid supply and reception network at the state level. Al Foah also achieved leading utilization rates at the sector level in its processing center and its cold storage facilities. The company currently exports large quantities of its production to 45 countries around the world, with a strong presence in high-growth Asian markets such as India, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Last year, Al Foah achieved revenues of about 504 million dirhams and net profits of about 83 million dirhams. The «Holding Company» said «in a statement that the proposed offer« will combine two leading companies in their fields of supplementary products for food and beverages to create one of the ten most important entities for food and consumer beverages in the Middle East and North Africa. She added that the entity resulting from the merger would become a “national hero” in the fields of water, dates, flour and animal fodder. According to the proposal, “Senaat” would transfer the total issued capital shares of “Al Foah Company” to “Agthia Group” in return for the latter to issue in favor of “Senaat” a convertible instrument into 120 million ordinary shares in “Agthia” upon completion of the deal. The holding company said that the price of the convertible instrument would be 3.75 dirhams per share, implying an equity value of 450 million dirhams ($ 122.52 million) for Al Foah.
After completing the deal, Senaat will own 59.17 percent of the entire issued capital of Agthia Group, up from 51 percent it currently owns. The Holding Company, which was established in 2018, owns strategic assets such as Abu Dhabi Ports, Abu Dhabi Airport and the operating company of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. It also established a portfolio of food and agricultural activities, and recently acquired a 22 percent stake in a “Ramex” for package delivery services. Abu Dhabi witnessed mergers of some of its largest companies in the past few years due to the decline in oil prices.