NADEC Buys Pure Harvest's Haradh Greenhouse for SAR 85 Million
A four-year operating partnership converts into direct ownership. NADEC takes over a working, high-tech hydroponic facility rather than commissioning a new one — a faster route to expanding its protected agriculture footprint under Vision 2030.
The Deal at a Glance
National Agricultural Development Co. (NADEC), one of Saudi Arabia's largest listed food producers, has signed a binding agreement with Pure Harvest Smart Farms to acquire the assets of a high-tech protected agriculture facility for SAR 85 million. The facility spans roughly six hectares (60,000 square meters) and sits within NADEC's own landholdings in Haradh, where it has operated using hydroponic, climate-controlled growing systems since 2022.
Under the agreement, the facility is expected to be handed over to NADEC in the fourth quarter of 2026, with operations under NADEC's ownership targeted to begin in the first quarter of 2027. NADEC said the purchase will be funded through a mix of internal resources and commercial bank financing.
Key Takeaways
- NADEC will own — not just host — a working hydroponic greenhouse it has effectively co-developed with Pure Harvest since 2020.
- The SAR 85 million price covers an operating asset built and run since 2022, not greenfield construction — a materially faster path to added protected-agriculture capacity.
- Pure Harvest will provide transitional support to transfer operational knowledge and technical know-how to NADEC's team.
- The deal builds on a partnership that began with a 2020 MoU and a 2023 strategic agreement targeting over 27 hectares of production on NADEC land.
- It reinforces NADEC's stated ambition to become a vertically integrated food producer as it works toward a SAR 6 billion revenue target.
From Tenant Relationship to Direct Ownership
The transaction marks a structural shift in how the two companies work together. NADEC and Pure Harvest's relationship dates to a November 2020 memorandum of understanding, followed in 2021 by a set of agreements covering a 20-year lease, utility services, and shared-services cooperation for hydroponic greenhouses within NADEC City in Haradh. In January 2023, the companies expanded that cooperation into a formal strategic partnership aimed at delivering more than 27 hectares of production on NADEC's land, with Pure Harvest designing, building, and operating the facilities.
This latest agreement changes that model for the six-hectare facility specifically: rather than continuing as landlord to an operator, NADEC becomes the owner and operator, with Pure Harvest stepping back into a transitional, knowledge-transfer role. NADEC has said it will run the facility through its own operations team, supplemented by additional specialized expertise, while drawing on Pure Harvest's existing production and distribution capabilities during the handover period.
- Acquiring an asset that has already been built, commissioned, and run for several years removes much of the execution risk that typically weighs on greenhouse projects in the Gulf — permitting, technical calibration, and the learning curve of operating hydroponic systems in an arid climate. For NADEC, that de-risking is arguably as valuable as the SAR 85 million price tag itself. The structure also lets Pure Harvest, which has raised well over $380 million since 2016 to fund an asset-heavy build-out across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, recycle capital out of a mature Gulf facility as it continues expanding into new markets in Asia.
Why Protected Agriculture Matters for Vision 2030
Saudi Arabia imports the majority of its fresh fruit and vegetables, a dependency that Vision 2030's food security agenda has consistently targeted for reduction. High-tech protected agriculture — greenhouses using hydroponic irrigation and climate control to grow crops year-round despite the Kingdom's arid conditions — has become one of the more capital-efficient routes to closing that gap, particularly for water-intensive produce categories that are difficult to grow economically in open fields.
NADEC's broader strategy, laid out alongside a SAR 2 billion rights issue completed in 2023, is to expand beyond its traditional dairy and juice base into a vertically integrated food business, with fruit and vegetable production identified as a priority growth segment. Owning an established hydroponic facility outright — rather than depending on a third-party operator — gives NADEC more direct control over that expansion, along with the option to apply what it learns here across the additional hectares still to be developed under its wider partnership with Pure Harvest.
What to Watch Next
The transaction's financial impact on NADEC's results has not yet been disclosed in detail; that, along with the terms of the transitional support arrangement with Pure Harvest, will be worth tracking as the Q4 2026 handover approaches. Also relevant is what happens to the remainder of the 27-plus hectares envisioned under the 2023 strategic partnership — whether NADEC extends the same ownership model to future phases, or continues leasing additional capacity from Pure Harvest as an operator.
For Pure Harvest, the sale is consistent with a broader shift the company has signaled: moving toward a more capital-light model in mature markets, monetizing operating assets, and directing fresh capital — including a $180.5 million raise backed by the Olayan family in 2022 — toward newer geographies such as Singapore, South Korea, and Morocco.
