Netafim has acquired 50% of South African greenhouses company Vegtech 2000 from Packer Steels and Metals (Packer Plada) (TASE: PKER) for an estimated $5 million. Vegtech, which develops, manufactures, and sets up hothouses that use technology to monitor crops, has $10 million in activity this year.
Netafim president and CEO Erez Meltzer said that the acquisition was aimed at increasing his company’s activity in South Africa, which had great agricultural potential.
Meltzer stressed that the current trend in global agriculture was a transition to crops raised under artificial conditions, including hothouses and other crop protection, in order to save land, water, and chemicals. He added that the acquisition of Vegtech had great strategic importance, and would help make Netafim one of the world’s leading greenhouse companies. Meltzer said that Netafim was considering further acquisitions, all linked to the greenhouse sector.
Kibbutz Hatzerim, Kibbutz Magal, and Kibbutz Yiftach own Netafim, which operates in 112 countries around the world. The company’s sales turnover is $300 million. Netafim has 32 subsidiaries, twelve manufacturing plants, and 2,000 employees worldwide.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 11, 2005