Management buyout fails at Agriterra cocoa plantation

16th Jan 2017 16:10

(ShareCast News) - Agriterra advised the market on Monday that, further to its announcements of 5 October 2016 and 6 January 2017, the proposed management buyout transaction of the company's Sierra Leone cocoa assets - held through equity interests in Baranca Tide Limited and West Africa Cocoa Services Limited - will not be completed as anticipated.The AIM-traded firm said as a result,the management buyout team has failed to secure the finance required to complete the transaction, and the ownership of the target companies was reverting to the Agriterra."The target companies have a collective current book value of approximately $0.35m and the underlying assets comprise the necessary infrastructure from which a large scale commercial cocoa plantation and trading business can be developed in Sierra Leone," Agriterra's board explained in a statement."The company will now work towards achieving maximum shareholder value from the target companies and will consider all avenues to achieve this, including - without limitation - disposal and further development."Agriterra said that, whilst the funds which would have been received from the management buyout would have bolstered the company's cash reserves, its head-office treasury position remained strong at approximately $2.3m.