Orane GRACE KENNEDY & Company yesterday appeared to dispose of its 14.9 million shares in Seprod.
According to Jamaica Stock Exchange trading yesterday 14,932,448 shares changed hands at $10, raising close to $150 million for Grace. Mr. Orane is overseas briefing investors on the company's fortunes and was unavailable for comment.
Grace chairman and chief executive Douglas Orane had said he would sell the 8 per cent stake a few weeks ago after Seprod struck a joint venture deal with rival Musson Jamaica to acquire the bulk of Facey Commodity.
The joint venture partners teamed up to buy most of Facey, rather than just the manufacturing and distribution business, which Mussons had initially agreed to buy.
The fresh deal will see Mechala Jamaica's profitable Facey pharmaceutical arm thrown into the pot alongside the food making and distribution business.
Desmond Blades, Mussons boss is also Seprod chairman. The deal is reminiscent of the Goldcrest joint venture, which saw the pair combine to buy Kingston feed mills. In March Seprod sold the business to Caribbean Broilers Group and its expanding Nutramix animal feeds operations for around US$3.5($140m) million.
But Facey Commodity has been a fierce competitor to Grace in several markets, which led to the Grace decision to sell.
