Australia's oldest ginger processing and agritourism business has received an $8.3 million takeover offer from Global Foods.
The proposed deal includes the Buderim Ginger brands, all land, plant and ginger processing equipment at Yandina and the Ginger Factory tourist attraction, as well as a 1,619-hectare macadamia orchard in Hawaii.
It would include a name change from Buderim Group Limited to Health and Plant Protein Limited.
George Vasili, the principal shareholder of Global Foods, once sat on the Buderim Ginger board and has a 15.86 per cent share in the publicly listed group.
"Global Foods is a successful Australian family owned and operated food importing and processing business that has great synergy with the ginger division," Mr Vasili said in an ASX announcement.
"We are in a unique position to invest the required capital and expertise to enable the ginger division to continue into the future, and for the company to profitably grow with a renewed focus on the macadamia industry."
Macadamia products account for 60 per cent of the Buderim Group's revenue.
Takeover could take three months
If the offer is accepted, incoming executive director Dennis Lin said the company planned to expand its US interests which operate under the name MacFarms.
In 2018, the company conducted a strategic review of its ginger division which had been in the red for five years before returning a profit last financial year.
From highs of nearly $5 in the 1990s, shares in Buderim Group traded around 16 cents on Tuesday.
Mr Lin said a number of mishaps had been made in the past including an investment in a pie shop and a foray into vitamin production.
"We are doing this to act in the best interests of the shareholders; certainly we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't think it was for the right reasons," he said.
If shareholders accepted the offer, the company's chief executive, Andrew Bond, said he would transfer over with the ginger division and take on a non-executive director role with the macadamia arm of the business.
"We've been working with ginger growers on the Sunshine Coast since 1941 and I don't see any change to that," Mr Bond said.
"Buderim Ginger and the Ginger Factory are part of the fabric of the Sunshine Coast, we are Australia's leading ginger company, and we'll continue exporting Australian ginger around the world.
"We're very proud of the work the team's done and we've got a tremendous future in front of us."
