Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Gets Their Hands on Comit Farm Produce
Posted on 03/30/2023
Mitolo Family Farms is a vertically integrated grower, harvester, packer and marketer of fresh potatoes and onions in Australia, with a portfolio representing one of Australia’s largest horticultural land aggregations. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and its Australian agriculture subsidiary AustOn Corporation will acquire a majority equity interest in Mitolo Family Farms, with the Mitolo family retaining a significant ownership stake.
AustOn is the Australian agriculture arm of Ontario Teachers’ and has operated in Australia since 2018. AustOn employs teams to manage Aroona Farms, which produces almonds in South Australia and Victoria, Jasper Farms, which produces avocados in Western Australia, and Pomona Valley, which produces apples and stone fruit in Victoria.
The business will continue to operate under the Mitolo Family Farms brand and under the leadership of Managing Director Frank Mitolo and the current executive leadership team including John Mitolo and Darren Mitolo.
Frank Mitolo was born in Adelaide in 1967. His father, Bruno Mitolo, immigrated to Australia from Italy with his parents at the age of 13 and his mother, Angela, was born in Australia to immigrant parents. Frank has two brothers John and Darren. Frank attended Rostrevor College and whilst studying, he worked actively in the Mitolo family-owned horticultural business, Comit Farm Produce. Comit Farm is the largest packer and exporter of potatoes and onions in the Southern hemisphere, currently exporting to 6 countries around the world. Domestically the company is the major supplier of potatoes to Coles supermarkets in Australia.
Keywords: Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board.
