Emmerson Njanjamangezi, Group Features Editor 
ARISTON Holdings (Ariston) says it has agreed on joint ventures in three key business projects – fruits, power generation and livestock – as part of the group’s initiatives to raise capital.
Last year, the diversified agro-industrial concern, disposed of 50 percent of its shareholding in Claremont Orchards Holdings for US$2 million to form a joint venture with Tuinbouw Zonder Grenzen, a company registered in the Netherlands.
The group also entered into a joint venture with Claremont Power Station and Ariston owns 55 percent of the power station.
Ariston also struck a joint venture arrangement with Family van Leenhoff for the purposes of cattle ranching in a company called Mombe Shoma.
In the group’s 2021 annual report, group chairman Alexander Jongwe said part of the rationale for the transactions was to raise funding for further investment.
“Further, the transaction (Claremont Orchards) enabled the entry of a foreign shareholder who has undertaken to provide significant funding for expansion of Claremont Orchards into high value fruit and flower offerings primarily for the export market.
“It is envisaged that the sum of the two investments will provide Ariston shareholders with greater value. Regulatory approval for the transaction has been received and the sale proceeds were received shortly after year-end,” he said.
According to Jongwe, for the purposes of a cattle ranching joint venture, the contractual arrangement states together with other circumstances that both parties have rights to the net assets of the investment.
The initial investment was valued at $31,7 million and was in the form of contribution of cattle to the joint venture.
A joint venture is an arrangement whereby the parties have rights to the net assets of the entity.
Joint control is the contractually agreed sharing of control of an arrangement, which exists only when decisions about the relevant activities require unanimous consent of the parties sharing control.
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