In recent days the Australian has run a couple of stories about the recently announced transaction by Buderim, which might explain the high volume on Friday.
The articles are behind a paywall, here is an extract from one of them (6/10/16):
Australia’s largest ginger producer, publicly-listed Buderim Ginger which traces its history back 75 years to a small Queensland growers co-operative, has caught the eye of Chinese investors who could soon own nearly half the company.
One of those new investors is Albert Tse — businessman, former Macquarie Bank executive and husband to Kevin Rudd’s daughter Jessica.
Hong Kong-raised Mr Tse has secured a stake in Buderim Ginger, whose factory is only a short drive from Nambour, the former prime minister’s birthplace.
He comes on board as Buderim Ginger has transformed its business from reliance on selling low-value commodity packages of ginger cubes or raw ginger, to push into branded products such as ginger flavoured drinks, ginger snacks and ginger chocolate.
Buderim Ginger announced late yesterday it would raise a total of $26.1 million from two China-linked corporates — Asia Mark Development, a business associate of QiaQia Food Co, a Shenzhen stock exchange-listed company, and Wattle Hill RHC Fund, a private equity fund specialising in Australian businesses tapped into Chinese growth.
A capital raising and issuing of new shares to the two investors will see them take an initial 23 per cent stake in Buderim Ginger as well as the right to appoint two directors to the board. The new shareholders will also eventually be able to nominate a third director to the Buderim Ginger board which now has four directors.
A convertible note, exercisable in three years could see the Chinese duo’s stake climb to between 40 and 48 per cent.
Asia Mark Development and Wattle Hill are viewed as associates. QiaQia is one of China’s largest modern snack production companies, specialising in roasted seeds and tree nuts. Its products are sold in more than 900,000 retail outlets in China and in calendar 2015 had revenues of $650m and a market capitalisation of $1.78 billion.
Wattle Hill’s team comprises Chinese-speaking investment staff with Australian education and professional backgrounds and was founded by Mr Tse, a former legal representative of Macquarie Group in Beijing. Mr Tse styles himself as a specialist in Chinese outbound investments, especially into Australia.
