Page 15 - Vol.37-No.1 issue

FOOD PROCESSING

AGTHIA COMPLETES A TRANSACTION WITH AL FOAH

TO CREATE TOP 10 F&B COMPANY IN THE REGION

gthia Group PJSC, a leading Senaat is part of ADQ, one of the region’s
food, and beverages company, largest holding companies with a broad
Atoday announced the success- portfolio of major enterprises spanning
ful completion of its strategic combina- key sectors of Abu Dhabi’s economy.
tion with Al Foah, the world’s largest data
processing and packaging company
based in Abu Dhabi.
With the integration of Al Foah into
Agthia as a strategic business unit, Agth- Alan Smith, Chief Executive Officer
ia has instantly become the domestic of Agthia Group, said: “With the suc-
market leader in four essential food and cessful close of this transaction, we
beverage categories: water, dates, flour, have fast-tracked our ambitions to be-
and animal feed, in addition to having a Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi, Chairman, come amongst the top 10 F&B compa-
diversified international exposure with- Agthia Group and Chief Investment Of- nies in the MENA region. Additionally,
in the date category. As a more robust, ficer, ADQ, said: “The successful consol- as a leader in the global date market,
diversified, and consumer-centric food idation of Al Foah’s business has created the integration of Al Foah as a strategic
and beverage player, Agthia will have a true F&B regional powerhouse and an business unit of Agthia enables us to im-
an even stronger platform to compete immediate UAE champion in the excit- mediately become a regional champion
across the MENA region and beyond. ing date market. Agthia has a winning and a serious competitor on a global
scale in a very promising food catego-
The transaction – which was first pro- formula that enables us to take advan- ry. The global date market is exhibiting
posed by General Holding Corporation tage of opportunities such as the Al Foah very encouraging market fundamentals
PJSC (Senaat) to the Agthia Board of Di- transaction. We have a clear roadmap with constructive demand and supply
rectors in October 2020 and received for growth and diversification of geog- dynamics. As a very versatile superfood
approval from Agthia’s shareholders in raphies and products, underpinned by with immense nutritional value, the op-
November 2020 – saw Senaat transfer a robust balance sheet. Moreover, we portunities in the date category are vast
Al Foah’s business, excluding its organic are proud of our impeccable reputation and exciting, and with the expertise of
date farm in Al Ain, to Agthia in exchange for quality products and service, which the Al Foah team and its extensive global
for 120 million new shares through the is revered by peers and endorsed by reach to 45 international markets across
issuance of a convertible instrument. As our customers. We will continue to seek the date market value chain, we are clos-
a result, Senaat now owns 59.17% of the organic and inorganic growth opportu- er to achieving our strategic priorities of
entire issued share capital of Agthia, up nities to support our ambitions and to product diversification and geographic
from the 51% it owned before the deal. further strengthen the UAE’s food and expansion.”
beverage sector.”
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SMALL TOWNS ARE BIGGER THAN WE THINK

Innovative FAO study maps urban-rural catchment areas and Economist Andrea Cattaneo, FAO Economist Theresa McMenomy
points to ways to optimize policy and planning coordination for ag- and Professor Andy Nelson from the Faculty of Geo-Information
riculture, services and agri-food systems Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente in the Neth-
Fewer than one percent of the global population live in truly re- erlands.
mote hinterlands, sharpening the need for better understanding of By using multiple spatial datasets and calculating the time need-
how urban forms impact food systems as well as social and eco- ed for rural populations to reach nearby keystone urban centers,
nomic development, according to ground-breaking new research they found that peri-urban areas are home to nearly 40 percent of
by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the global population, equally distributed in the surrounding areas
the University of Twente. of small, intermediate, and large cities.
Small cities and towns and the rural areas they influence - de- These results challenge the centrality of large cities in develop-
fined as their catchment areas - play an outsized role in the way ment narratives and plans. Peri-urban areas often fall through the
people pursue their livelihoods, says the paper, “Global mapping cracks of policies designed for city residents and rural farmers,
of urban-rural catchment areas reveals unequal access to services”, highlighting the need for greater coordination between urban and
just published by the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences rural administrative authorities in order to help these in-between
(PNAS). populations to leverage their proximity to towns and cities to access
This is particularly the case in low-income countries where small education, services and employment opportunities more efficiently.
cities and their catchment areas are home to almost two thirds of The strikingly low figure cited at the outset describes people
their overall population. who live more than three hours - measured in terms of the available
Insights derived from the research “have strong policy implica- mode of transit from an urban settlement of 20 000 people or more.
tions, ranging from access to health services to the organization of On a national level, the figure of population in the hinterlands ris-
city-region food systems and facilitating a mobility transition toward es above 5 percent in only three countries with populations greater
more commuting and less migration,” say the authors, FAO Senior than 10 million: Madagascar, Niger and Zimbabwe.
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Vol. 37 No. 1 13