Tomra New Zealand’s post-harvest solutions provider Compac

TOMRA Sorting has signed an agreement to acquire a 100% stake in New Zealand-based sorting machine manufacturer Compac Holding (Compac).

As part of the deal, TOMRA Sorting will be pay NZ$70m ($49.6m) to Compac, which will be free of cash and interest bearing debt.

The transaction is expected to complete by the first quarter of next year, subject to approval by the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office.

TOMRA president and CEO Stefan Ranstrand said: “The food market is large and continuously growing with requirements around food safety and quality becoming increasingly more stringent. Food producers are also consolidating, becoming larger, more sophisticated and more global.

“As a leading technology supplier into this industry we see clear advantages in mirroring this trend. With the acquisition of Compac, we reinforce TOMRA’s leading position within the food segment and we will be the first player to present an offering to our customers for sorting fresh and processed foods with both lane and bulk sorting.”

Established in 1984, Compac offers post-harvest solutions to the global fresh produce industry. It manufactures packhouse automation systems that sort fresh produce.

Compac CEO Mike Riley said: “Market forces have driven double digit growth at Compac over recent years, and we have rapidly become a global business from humble New Zealand roots.

“Joining forces with TOMRA will enable us to continue to meet the increasing demands for our products and services in a more scalable and operationally efficient manner.”

Compac has a workforce of approximately 700 employees across New Zealand, Australia, US, China, South-America, Spain and Italy. It offers lane sorting within the fresh fruit and vegetable segment.