One of China's leading produce companies has bought almost a fifth New Zealand fruit and vegetable group Turners & Growers (NZX:TGG), and has done so at a price premium of 18%.

In announcements to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, Golden Wing Mau said it was purchasing the shares via investment vehicles Bartel Holdings and Tiger Ventures NZ.

At a price of NZ$2.95 (US$2.13) per share, Golden Wing Mau purchased 13.16 million shares through Bartel and 11.34 million shares through Tiger.

This compares to the market price of NZ$2.50 (US$1.81) per TGG share, and amounts to a total investment of NZ$72.2 million (US$52.1 million).

Subject to Chinese regulations, completion of the transaction is expected to occur on or before Sept. 15.

German multinational BayWa still owns close to three-quarters of the group's shares.

In a statement, T&G Global chair Klaus Josef Lutz welcomed Golden Wing Mau's acquisition of 19.99% of the company.

"We are welcoming Golden Wing Mau as one of the shareholders of T&G Global," Lutz said.

"GWM is a leading fruit distributor in China with nationwide sales channels, a large expertise for fruits from New Zealand and long term trading relationships with New Zealand as well as T&G Global.

"For T&G Global the Chinese Market is an important sales market, and we expect future growth for T&G through the new level of working relationship with GWM in the long term."

Late last year, Golden Wing Mau announced a merger with another Chinese produce giant, Joyvio.

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