San Miguel launches the Thudana citrus trust

San Miguel has launched the Thudana Citrus Trust, a trust whose beneficiaries are San Miguel Fruits South Africa (SMFSA) and Sunnybank Pack House employees. The trust gives a select number of employees 30% ownership of the Thudana Citrus Company; a broad-based black ownership scheme. The Thudana Citrus Trust aims to play a constructive role in empowering black people in the Eastern Cape citrus industry by facilitating participation in the citrus value chain.

San Miguel believes in empowering communities and in people’s actions and capacity to grow which is why it is investing in its employees within the Sundays River Valley and donating shares in Thudana Citrus and providing the new shareholders with the training and development to understand the responsibility they hold as a trustee and as a board member.

“This initiative isn’t just handing a farm to our employees,” remarks Andries du Preez, country manager, San Miguel Fruits South Africa. “Thudana Citrus is a complete citrus operation and our aim is to empower the community over the long-term through education, training and providing a unique opportunity to become part of a fully-functioning citrus company.”

In June 2018, SMFSA invested in additional citrus operations in South Africa with the ambition to introduce a black economic empowerment (BEE) trust as a shareholder of the acquired businesses. The investment included:

• 40% of Sun Orange Farms, a citrus producing farm in the Kirkwood with a cultivated area of approximately 242 hectares.
• 100% of Thudana Fruit, through which fruit is sold to the local market
• Sun Citrus Packers with assets which include a pack house with two lines and a maximum capacity to pack 140,000 bins (56,000 tons).

Total assets of Thudana Citrus is R200 million.

Nico Groenewald, Head of Agribusiness for Standard Bank comments on the transaction saying: “South Africa is one of the leading citrus-exporting countries, and the citrus industry could play a significant role in achieving Vision 2030 of South Africa’s National Development Plan. A plan which aims to grow the local gross domestic product at an annual rate of 5.4% and to add a further million jobs in the agricultural and agro-processing sector.

“Standard Bank is delighted to be involved in the creation of Thudana Citrus, partnerships like this create sustainable and successful transformation initiatives which benefit local communities and the wider South Africa.”

How the Thudana Citrus Trust is formed

The trust beneficiaries from the San Miguel and Sunnybank Pack House employees are made up of:

San Miguel has donated the shares to the trust, and each member will receive a letter at the official launch on January 28th, 2019 to confirm their participation.

San Miguel has appointed three independent trustees who will work with the Thudana Citrus Trust members to help them participate in meetings and make decisions in relation to the Trust. The three independent trustees will also help the members to choose who will represent them on the board.

Training and development
San Miguel understands it can be daunting for someone who has been a farm or pack house worker all their life to be suddenly part of a trust and its board. So it has set out a programme of training and development workshops for the beneficiaries. Topics will include:

• How a trust works and the roles and responsibilities of trustees (presented by Lennox Plaatjies)
• Leadership for life (presented by Lennox Plaatjies)
• The workings of a citrus business (presented by the National Training Institute)