San Diego, California, USA
January 13, 2021
AHERN AGRIBUSINESS, Inc. (‘Ahern’), the leading vegetable seed distribution company, announced that it has been acquired by an investment group led by Tene Investment Funds, an Israeli growth-focused private equity fund, and Pulse Agri Investments, an Israeli investment fund specializing in agri-business.This will enable Ahern to diversify its product portfolio, expand research capabilities and access AI-powered technologies, opening new opportunities for customers, suppliers and employees.
“We are excited to have found a buyer who shares our vision and who will enable us to take the company to the next level. Over the past four decades, we’ve built Ahern into a successful, innovative and financially robust business and with the new partners on board, we can realize our ambitious plans for the future,” said Kevin Ahern, Ahern CEO, who will continue in his current role.
Ahern develops and markets vegetable seed varieties and provides variety-specific crop advice, with a special focus on Mexico and Central America. With its extensive expertise in plant genetics and crop management, Ahern evaluates thousands of vegetable seed varieties for suppliers such as Bayer, BHN, Enza Zaden, The Limagrain Group (HM Clause, Hazera and Vilmorin), Syngenta, Top Seeds and Vitalis Organic Seeds to determine the most effective seed for a customer’s conditions. In addition, Ahern provides unparalleled customer service, logistical and post-sale support.
With more than $1 billion under management and dozens of portfolio companies in various sectors operating globally, Tene Investment Funds has developed unique expertise in propelling agro-tech companies to global growth and leadership in their sectors.
Pulse Agri Investments is known for its managerial leadership and expertise in agricultural innovation, accelerating the growth of agri-businesses by identifying and adding complementary technological innovations to their portfolio of products and services, all in order to achieve outstanding success.
“We have full confidence that Ahern’s best-in-class vegetable seeds expertise and the excellent leadership team will deliver strong growth for the benefit of suppliers, customers and employees,” said Dr. Ariel Halperin, Tene Investment Funds senior managing partner.
“We were impressed by Ahern’s outstanding operation, and the highly professional and dedicated team. The infusion of new capital will help us deliver faster on the company’s strategic roadmap. In addition, we plan to bring our experience with agricultural innovation and focus on identifying potential partnerships that can offer value-added benefits to Ahern’s customers,” said Roee Tamari, Pulse Agri Investments managing partner and Ahern Seeds’ new executive chairman of the board.
Ahern’s ambitious future plans are centered on:
- outstanding genetics to deliver high-performance seed varieties and the best research and service for customers and suppliers.
- increased access to AI-powered technologies.
- expanded research into cutting-edge biological inputs that promote plant health and productivity while minimizing the impact on the environment.
Ahern will preserve operational continuity. Kevin Ahern will continue as CEO and will join the executive board of directors. Ahern’s executive team will remain in place. In addition, the board will include five members from the new ownership group, including: Roee Tamari, executive chairman of the board; Amnon Eshet, strategic business development lead; and three representatives of Tene Investment Funds: Dr. Ariel Halperin, non-executive chairman of the board; Ran Ben-Or and Eyal Shamear.
About AHERN AGRIBUSINESS, Inc.:
Founded in 1981 and based in San Diego, CA, Ahern is a leading seed distribution company focused on Mexico and Central America that evaluates and markets vegetable seeds to deliver the best seed varieties, technology and crop advice to each grower. With expertise in plant genetics and crop management, Ahern evaluates plant size, uniformity, cover, vigor, maturity, fruit size, shape, color, texture, disease resistance, soil profiles, and more, so customers get the best vegetable seed for their application. The cornerstone of Ahern service is unparalleled customer service and logistical support.
About Tene Investment Funds:
Tene Investment Funds is an Israeli private equity fund. Some of Tene’s investments in agriculture include: Netafim, the global leader in drip irrigation; SCR, a global technological leader in the dairy sector; and Gadot Agro, a prominent Israeli player in the field of sales and distribution of seeds, pesticides and international agricultural projects.
About Pulse Agri Investments:
Pulse Agri Investments is an Israeli investment firm specializing in agri-businesses. The firm’s strategy focuses on maximizing the impact of agricultural novel technology by investing in global agri-businesses as platforms that present unique channels to the market, alongside early-stage companies with complementary innovative technology solutions, all to accelerate the growth of both the channels and the innovative tech companies.
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