Fresh ownership on the cards for Costa

Victorian fresh produce giant, Costa, says it will seek a stock market listing or a trade sale of the business within the next 18 months.

Costa is half-owned by US private equity firm Paine & Partners and the Costa family members at the helm, who are now in their 60s and 70s, say they have no obvious family successor to hand over to.

Costa is Australia's largest grower of blueberries, raspberries, table grapes, citrius fruit, tomatoes, bananas and mushrooms, and the company farms more than 4000 hectares of land and has 20 hectares of glasshouses. It supplies Coles, Woolworths and other retailers.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, an IPO would aim to raise between $300 million and $600 million for an enterprise value of between $800 million and $1 billion.

The other alternative would be to seek out a trade sale of the business, with a buyer most likely to be based overseas.