SAGRIC International Pty Ltd, previously Salger Pty Ltd (GA201)

Salger Pty Ltd was incorporated in February 1979, with the Treasurer of South Australia and the Minister of Agriculture as subscribers. The company's articles of association prevented the public from subscribing. Salger was formed to prepare, plan and implement an integrated development program for the Ksar Chellala area of Algeria. (1) Prior to this, the Overseas Projects Unit of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries had been responsible for such projects.

After the completion of this project the company continued to provide expertise in project management, agriculture, education, land administration and public sector technology, and later changed its name to SAGRIC International Pty Ltd. (2)

A subsidiary company named Innovation Management Pty Ltd was formed in 1989, and later two further companies (MRAD Pty Ltd and CMTek Pty Ltd) were formed to exploit South Australia's leading position in information technology.

From 1989 to 1995 Innovation Management acted as a broker between research and industry for commercialisation of intellectual property. It managed MRAD and oversaw SAGRIC's interest in CMTek. Other associated entities had been established (including the Centre for International Education and training (CIET) and the IDEA consortium, Austraining International Pty Ltd (33.3% owned), BAPEDAL (an incorporated joint venture in Indonesia), LASA Pty Ltd (16.7% owned), and Kinhill SAGRIC Pty Ltd (50% owned)) to undertake joint ventures.

As at 1998, SAGRIC had completed over 800 projects in 73 countries.

SAGRIC International did not administer any legislation and operated in a commercial profit driven environment in accordance with the Corporations legislation. Its principal activities were management in a trustee capacity for the SA government of overseas projects in agriculture, education, land administration, public sector technology and the commercialisation of intellectual property. Until 1996 the majority of the company's project work was sponsored or funded by the Commonwealth's primary international aid agency, AusAID.

The marketing function had been widened (circa 1998) by a reorganisation of the commercial operations group:
- Project Development dealt primarily with Australian aid sponsorship via AusAID,
- Business Development looked to the wider world arena (e.g. UNESCO, World Bank etc) for sponsorship, and
- Government Services Export sought opportunities to sell and export the expertise of South Australian Government agencies.

SAGRIC International was sold to a private buyer in March 2000, and the company's name was subsequently changed to Coffey International Development Pty Ltd. (3)

Sources:

(1) Auditor-General's Report for the year ending 30 June 1979, p. 298.
(2) Auditor-General's Report for the year ending 30 June 1988, p. 326.
(3) Australian Company Search, ASIC database, accessed 18 July 2012.