Zaad Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zeder, which serves as its focused platform for operationally complimentary investments in the strategic agri-inputs sector, has acquired a 49% stake in the Farm-Ag Group.

Farm-Ag has in recent years established itself as one of the largest South African owned formulators and distributors of crop protection chemicals, selling both locally and internationally.

“We see Zaad as being a perfect fit for Farm-Ag,” said Robert Maingard, Chairman of Farm-Ag, “and we are very much aligned in terms of our expansion vision both in South Africa and the rest of Africa at large. The potential for synergies is enormous.”

Antonie Jacobs, CEO of Zaad, stated that he is very pleased with their 49% stake in Farm-Ag and that it falls very much in line with the Zaad’s overall focus on strategic agri-inputs.

Through investments made to date Zaad has established itself as a leading producer, marketer and distributor of a wide variety of agricultural seeds across several countries in Africa and abroad under established names like Agricol, Bakker Brothers and Klein Karoo Seed Marketing.

Zeder Investments is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and is currently one of South Africa's leading agricultural investment companies.

Norman Celliers, CEO of Zeder,said that “Zeder remains focused on its strategy of growing the companies within their existing portfolio by leveraging the strong platforms they have established across the broad agribusiness industry”.