An announcement this month that New Zealand’s ‘GrowChem’ has been acquired by Israeli Agribusiness giant ‘ADAMA’, demonstrates that lucrative opportunities exist between the Israeli and New Zealand agricultural and agritech sectors. ADAMA is a leading global crop protection company while GroChem (formerly AgriNova Ltd) is a Wellington-based company that develops, manufactures, and sells crop protection products, plant growth regulators, bio-solutions and plant nutritional’s primarily in the horticulture segment. ADAMA has announced that this acquisition will enable the company to grow its product portfolio in the New Zealand market and pave its expansion into the complementary agricultural areas.
For some, this acquisition is merely a sign of the economic times; that quality businesses of low valuations are being snapped up by conglomerates with money to burn. From another perspective, that New Zealand have appeared the radars of Israeli businesses seeking value investment and partnerships, indicates that large deals are possible despite cultural, language and distance barriers. This acquisition, in theory, could pave the way for further deals and economic relationships should Israeli investors investigate what other hidden opportunities lie tucked away down under.
Another exciting economic development is that New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade has produced a Market Intelligence Report about Israel. These reports play a key role in highlighting the trade and collaborative opportunities that exist between New Zealand and overseas economies.
This report on Israel is a first. Previous reports have looked many other Middle Eastern countries, but until now, Israel has been conspicuously ignored despite it being one of the strongest economies in the region. It’s great to see this rectified, because there are in fact, huge opportunities for trade/investment/collaboration between New Zealand and Israel; as demonstrated by Grochem’s acquisition.
The report itself provides a great insight into a tech sector of focus: foodtech. This forward-thinking focus has emerged given Israeli companies are leading the world in food-tech investments in the plant-based alternative proteins sector, and comes second only to the US in funds invested in the alternative protein industry as a whole. The report is well written and well-researched, and contains findings by Ambassador Zoe Coulson-Sinclair during her recent visit to Israel. Please follow the link below to read the report.
Josh Brown, Director of Israel New Zealand Innovation Hub.
