Locusts into…Horticulture? PE to Buy into Indian Roses, Food
Karuturi, India's largest floriculture company and the world's largest rose grower (580 million stems annually, mainly for export to Europe), is seeking to sell a 10-15% stake in its Ethiopian subsidiary to private equity in order to finance further expansion of its food and floriculture operations. Karuturi has acquired 40,000 hectares of farmland in Ethiopia where it plans to expand its food processing operations for export (rice, vegetables, palm oil, sugarcane and gherkins). With an infusion of pe cash, the company also hopes to expand in Ecuador and Colombia.
Ethiopia, with cheap land and labour, has become a magnet for capital investing in the cut flower industry. Air freight to Europe is approximately half the rate of that from India, where cut flower cultivation has been expanding rapidly. Karuturi became number one globally in roses when it acquired the Dutch floriculture company. Another Indian flower company, Sher Agencies, recently acquired Mauritius-based Globeagro Holdings, which owns three Ethiopian companies employing some 1,000 workers: Alliance Flowers Plc, Holetta Roses PLc, and Oromia Wonders Plc.