Ridley Corporation Limited appointed Siddharth (Sid) Jain as chief executive officer-Novacq™ to advise the completion of the land and feed mill acquisition in Thailand.

Sid is a highly sought after commercial business leader with extensive experience in delivering organic growth and acquisitions in the Asia Pacific region. Sid joins Ridley from Archer Daniels Midland where he has held the role of director, business development & strategy, Asia Pacific, for the past four years. Sid, who will be based in Singapore with responsibility for the Yamba, New South Wales and Chanthaburi, Thailand Novacq™ operations, will begin on April 1.

The announcement of Sid’s appointment coincides with the successful completion of the acquisition of approximately 50 hectares of land encompassing the existing Thailand Novacq™ production ponds and the remaining 51% shareholding in the Pen Ngern feed mill for an outlay of 171.2 million Thai Baht (approximately AUD$8.2m).

In June 2017, Ridley secured the lease of the land in Chanthaburi, Thailand, less than one kilometer from the Pen Ngern feed mill in which it had previously acquired a 49% interest. The land was subsequently converted to 14 Novacq™ production ponds with the necessary infrastructure to support the operation. Following the recent development approval to house the Novacq™ dewatering and drying operation within the Pen Ngern feed mill precinct and Thailand's Board of Investment (BoI) approval required for foreign land ownership, Ridley moved to acquire full control of the assets.

“This transaction has been a long time in the making and we are delighted that the BoI has recognized the importance of this project to both the local economy and Thailand’s prawn farming industry. Securing these production facilities provides the ideal footprint for the long-term expansion of the Novacq™ operations in Thailand and the foundation to supply Novacq™ to shrimp producers in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions,” said Quinton Hildebrand, Ridley CEO.