Israeli Conglomerate Acquires Cali-Based Avocado Packer Pacific Fruits

The Cali, Colombia operations, brands and machinery of Pacific Fruits, one of the leading companies for packing and commercialization of agricultural products, especially the Hass variety of avocado has been acquired by Israeli investment vehicle Managro.

Managro, a company established in 2014, is a conglomerate that invests in the agribusiness sector in Latin America. According to Executive Director Chagai Stern, “Pacific Fruit International is in a strategic location, looking to Asia, with state-of-the-art machinery, capacity to export the volumes required by the market and with room to expand. It has all the certificates required to export everywhere in the world and has led the diversification of export destinations being the first to export Avocado to Argentina and Japan from Colombia.”

With 70 employees, Pacific Fruits exported approximately 250 containers with a value of $9 million USD. The fruit packer was the first Colombian company to export Hass avocados to Saudi Arabia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Argentina.

“This new investment opportunity for Valle del Cauca shows the investment confidence that we have been consolidating in the region, achieving the establishment of more companies from countries where traditionally we didn’t receive any investment,” said Alejandro Ossa Cárdenas, the Executive Director of Invest Pacific, the investment promotion agency for Cali and the Valle del Cauca region of Colombia.

“The arrival of high-impact investment such as that of Grupo Managro promotes the development of Colombia’s agro-industrial sector and contributes to taking firm steps towards strengthening our competitiveness, economy and export capacity,” said Flavia Santoro, the president of ProColombia, the country’s national investment promotion agency.

“Our goal is to take the flavors of Colombia around the globe, following the path of opening new destinations for domestic products while positioning Colombia and Valle del Cauca as a safe destination for development of new business and investments. Our mission as Managro is to help and improve South America’s farming industry; supplying education, connection and collaborating with physical and digital platforms that allow farmers to be prepare for the future’s food demand,” said Stern.

Valle del Cauca is the second Hass avocado producing department in Colombia after Antioquia, with over 303,939 acres of land available for the crop

Different to other regions with which Valle del Cauca competes for the avocado production, foreign investors will find in the southwestern area of the country: research centers, nurseries, crops, packing houses and the Port of Buenaventura, located just over 100 miles from the regional capital of Cali.

In 2019, 25 foreign direct investment projects were established in Cali and Valle del Cauca, with an investment value of $868 million USD, more than four times the previous year’s investment level.