Blackrock International Land and Total Produce - both companies spun out of Fyffes - have formed a joint venture to buy 135 acres in Co Dublin from the McCann family.
The two companies have agreed to pay €25 million, including costs, for the land, which is located at The Ward in north Co Dublin, close to the new N2 motorway. Each will pay €12.5 million.
The seller is Balkan Investment Company, the McCann family trust which is controlled by Fyffes founder Neil McCann.
The deal will facilitate the development of a new base for Total Produce, which currently operates its fruit distribution business from a site in Smithfield in Dublin city centre.
This property, which is in an area earmarked for major redevelopment by Dublin City Council, is owned by Blackrock.
Under the terms of the 50/50 joint venture, 20 acres of the land being bought will be set aside for Total Produce, with the fruit company to have an option to acquire it at cost within the next decade.
In total, 36 acres of the property have been zoned for agribusiness use, leaving open the possibility for the development of a fruit market on the site.
This would allow companies operating in the sector to avoid the charges attached to bringing large trucks in and out of the city centre.
The remaining 99 acres are located next to a 120-acre site purchased by Blackrock earlier this year, thus giving the company a direct or indirect interest in 255 acres in this part of Co Dublin.
The area will in the future accommodate a new prison and a new terminal at Dublin airport.
The companies said yesterday that the land deal and the joint venture agreement between Total Produce and Blackrock were negotiated at arm's length.
Balkan, which has owned the land for more than 10 years, holds 10.6 per cent of Total Produce and 6.38 per cent of Blackrock, while Carl McCann, Neil McCann's son, is chairman of Total Produce.
Carl McCann did not participate in any of the meetings conducted to agree the arrangements.
The joint venture company and Balkan, meanwhile, had separate property advisers, while all the parties had their own legal advisers.
A spokesman for Blackrock and Total Produce said the valuation on the land matched that paid by Blackrock for the adjoining site in January.
Shares in Blackrock closed one cent higher at 40 cent, while Total Produce closed unchanged at 70 cent.
