One of Australia’s largest privately owned fresh produce companies Perfection Fresh has sold part of the business to an investment consortium of Equilibrium Capital, Temasek and existing shareholder the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
Perfection Fresh was founded by the Simonetta family in 1978. The undisclosed financial investment will bolster PF’s controlled environment agriculture (CEA) business domestically and as it pushes into international markets.
Perfection Fresh CEO Michael Simonetta said he was thrilled with the new investment.
“My family has enjoyed a positive partnership with the Victor Smorgon Group and James Orloff over the past 15 years. We successfully expanded that partnership four years ago to include PSP Investments, and we now look forward to our next chapter with our new partners joining the Perfection Fresh business,” Simonetta said.
PF said it would build on its current facilities including its 43-hectare high tech glasshouse vine crop facility and 116-hectare berry polyhouses with strategically aligned CEA partner growers and through its owns assets.
The company owns and operates farms across the country, including high-tech controlled environment glasshouses, berry farms, table grape vineyards, and citrus orchards.
Simonetta said the plan is to continue the current growth trajectory locally, sourcing proprietary and premium fresh produce from its own farms and growers all over Australia. Perfection will continue to partner with and support local Australian farms, and the communities in which they operate.
PF has introduced and expanded some of Australia’s most recognised fresh produce brands such as Broccolini baby broccoli, Calypso mangoes, Qukes baby cucumbers, Mix-a-Mato tomatoes, Perfection Berries, and Ecoganic bananas.
Michael Simonetta adds, “Our new shareholder partners together with PSP Investments bring extensive global investment experience, and relationships in our markets and in the agricultural technologies which will help accelerate the growth of our company’s business in Australia and beyond.”
Perfection Fresh was advised by Goldman Sachs, Mills Oakley and PWC. The investment consortium was advised by Allens, Clifford Chance, KWM, KPMG, and PWC.
