Masstock bought by Irish farming and food company

Masstock has found a new long-term owner to replace the venture capital firm that took a principal stake in the agronomy, consultancy and farm inputs business 10 years ago.

Irish agri-nutrition and food group Origin Enterprises has paid £26m for the share capital of Masstock Group Holdings, which owns Masstock Arable UK the parent company of seed and fertiliser business Dalgety. A further £10m will be payable if certain profit targets are achieved by 2012.

Masstock CEO Declan Giblin said it would be business as usual as far as the company’s day-to-day running was concerned. There would be no personnel changes and the firm would continue to trade under its new Masstock Smart Farming Branding, he added.

Mr Giblin said the firm’s ownership by Private Equity Partners had always been seen as a transitional phase while it grew and acquired new businesses. “Our ultimate goal was to find a strategically complementary home for us within a business that had major scale involvement in agriculture and upstream links with food processing.”

Origin chief executive Tom O’Mahony said: “The structural shifts taking place globally in the form of rising food demand and an increased awareness of agriculture as an alternative supplier of agriculture is placing an enormous focus on best farming practice.”