Santiago — Hipsters and health nuts the world over want more avocados for their toast and blueberries for their everything. Enter Chilean grower Hortifrut. The Santiago-based company has ramped up deal-making and expansion plans to boost production and meet demand. Now it’s poised to close a deal announced in October to pay $160m for Peru’s Grupo Rocío, that country’s largest blueberry producer. Together with expansion plans in Mexico, the US and China, the move will more than double berry production, including blueberries, to more than 100-million kilograms in the current harvest from the previous year, Victor Moller, the company’s chair, said. And there’s more to come. "People laugh at me because I still think this company is in its infancy," Moller said of the 38-year-old company that went public in 2012. "But it’s a baby with a huge growth potential." Investors are happy so far, considering Hortifrut is up more than 500% since the initial public offering (IPO), compared to a 29%...
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