Li Wang, a New Zealand citizen, is a long-standing shareholder of Comvita and its largest. Her current shareholding represents almost 11.2 per cent of the total Comvita shares on issue.
She and husband Guangping Zhu, the JV partners, will remain on the China board and Wang will be invited to stand for election to the Comvita board in October with the support of the board.
Post completion of this transaction, she will hold 18.41 per cent of Comvita's total shares on issue.
Comvita chair Neil Craig says the JV has revenues of about $55 million a year "so it is a sizeable business from Comvita's perspective, and it is profitable and growing."
In the year to June 30, 2018, the venture had sales of $46 million and its 51 per cent share of the JV had an after-tax profit of $3.3 million.
Comvita's consolidated business, including China, is now expected to be greater than $200 million of sales on an annual basis.
Comvita shares were up 1.2 per cent at $4.15 and have shed 15.5 per cent so far this year.
- BusinessDesk