Presco to acquire company linked to chairman for $46 million in expansion push

Palm oil giant Presco has said a takeover of local oil palm business Saro Oil Palm Limited is on the cards.

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The move follows a phased acquisition last year of Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GODPC) Limited, a venture in which it acquired a 52 per cent interest for N103 billion in the first tranche.

Acquiring Saro Oil Palm will cost $46.1 million, while consummating the Ghanaian deal requires $124.9 million, the agribusiness company said Thursday in a statement.

That puts the combined value of the latest acquisitions at $171.6 million.

Saro Oil Palm is a subsidiary of Saro Africa International, a conglomerate owned by Rasheed Sarumi, who is the current chairman of Presco. Presco expects the local acquisition to deliver N85 billion in operating profit by 2029.

Saro Oil Palm’s flagship asset, a 10,000-hectare plantation in Edo State, has been a subject of land grab allegations by its host community, according to www.farmlandgrab.org, which tracks land grabbing for agribusiness and carbon farming around the globe.

GOPDC runs two oil palm estates spanning 21,000 hectares in Eastern Ghana, both capable of producing more than 35,000 tonnes of palm oil and palm kernel oil yearly.

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Presco’s current stake in the palm oil maker contributed 8 per cent to its revenue in 2024, according to the Edo State-based firm’s 2024 audited earnings report.

Last March, Oak and Saffron, Saro Africa’s special purpose acquisition vehicle, acquired SIAT SA’s 86.7 per cent shareholding in Presco, 33 years after the Belgian corporation took control of the company.

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Presco stated in the Thursday statement it will raise fresh equity capital via a rights issue to facilitate its strategic objectives, refinance current debt and fund the purchase of GOPDC and Saro Oil Palm.

Its revenue for the six months to June leapt 125.8 per cent to N198.7 billion, compared to a year ago, while net profit was up by 128.2 per cent at N88.7 billion.

Total assets climbed 29 per cent to N613 billion.