What Robert Costa thinks of $1.6b takeover offer

afr.com:

Costa Group co-founder Robert Costa says he long expected any takeover tilt at Australia’s biggest horticulture company to involve a spin-off of its lucrative berry business.

Mr Costa said he considered global berries heavyweight Driscoll’s the most logical owner of the Costa berry division, that has a growing and attractive footprint in China and Morocco.

Robert Costa says he always expected any takeover of Costa Group to involve a spin off of the berry division. Picture: Jason South

California-based Driscoll’s has a long-standing partnership with Costa in berries in Australia and is also well known to the New York private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners that has lobbed a $1.6 billion takeover offer for Costa.

“For me, the logical play for that company (Costa Group) would always be for Driscoll’s to take the berry assets and just consolidate those with their worldwide portfolio and for someone else – Paine or whoever – to take the rest of it. That’s what I’ve always thought would be the smart play,” Mr Costa said.

“They may well be going to do that because they know each other very well, Paine and Driscoll’s.”

Mr Costa stressed that he no longer owned a single share in Costa and had not been involved in the business for eight years.

He still has his finger on the pulse in agriculture through a family office he runs with brother Anthony. “We’re still very heavy into agriculture because it’s something we understand and we enjoy,” he said.

Driscoll’s and Costa – Australia’s leader in blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry production – are partners in Driscoll’s Australia, which markets Costa-grown berries throughout the country and New Zealand.

Under the partnership, some Costa blueberry varieties are licensed