Sino Agro Food completes carve-out of aquaculture assets

Sino Agro Food, Inc. (SIAF), a China-based investment company focused on protein foods, including seafood and cattle, carved out Tri-way Industries Ltd., the holder of enzyme technology master license for manufacturing of livestock feed and bio-organic fertilizer.

The purpose for the carve-out is to provide Tri-way a means toward capitalizing on market conditions that currently support entities with strong aquaculture focus. Therefore, in addition to its currently held assets, namely those of Aquafarm 1, Tri-way completed the acquisition of assets held in Aquafarms 2, 3, 4 and 5 from their respective owners/investors, including SIAF, as well as rights to technology licensed from Capital Award, a wholly owned subsidiary of SIAF.

SIAF's $124.7 million held interest in Tri-way represents 36.6% ownership in the company. Going forward, Tri-way will be registered as an "investment in associate" holding by SIAF.

"This milestone represents one of the key steps in SIAF's more than decade-long transformation,” says Solomon Lee, chairman and CEO of SIAF. "The group strongly believes that separating into two industry-leading companies – one focused on the aquaculture industry and the other focused on investing in technology-based agriculture initiatives with substantial growth potential – will generate significant value for shareholders by enabling each company to focus on its specific business and strategic priorities. For SIAF, that means becoming a 'solutions destination,’ supporting a wide range of agriculture endeavors through the delivery of value-added technology and world-class operations.”