Shareholders in U.S. grain and agrifood giant Bunge have voted their advance approval of the company’s plans to take up one of Canada’s biggest grain industry players.
Bunge on Thursday announced the results of an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, in which they approved the acquisition of Viterra and a related issue of about 65.6 million Bunge common shares.
As outlined when the proposed deal was announced in June, Bunge’s deal would see Viterra shareholders receive that amount of Bunge common shares, valued at about US$6.2 billion, plus about US$2 billion cash. Ultimately Viterra shareholders would own about 33 per cent of the merged company, after a related share repurchase plan is complete.
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Bunge shareholder approval was among the “closing conditions” the company must meet, as well as regulatory approvals from several countries, to close the deal as planned in mid-2024. The company reiterated Thursday the merger is still expected to close at that time.
According to a separate filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that vote ran about 117.85 million Bunge shares in favour to 1.25 million against, with 355,464 shares abstaining.
“We appreciate our shareholders’ vote of confidence in our strategy to position Bunge as a premier global agribusiness solutions company through the merger with Viterra,” Bunge CEO Greg Heckman said Thursday in a release.
“Our team is focused on effectively running our operations while also planning for a successful integration.”
Among the regulatory approvals pending, Canada’s federal transport ministry and Competition Bureau have both said they have the proposed Bunge/Viterra combination under review.
Several Canadian farmer groups are pressing for further government interventions. The National Farmers Union in June called for the federal government to instead “make a counter-offer to purchase Viterra and return its assets to the control of Canadian farmers and workers through a new co-operative.”
Citing concerns over competition and market consolidation, Saskatchewan grain grower groups including the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), SaskCanola, Sask Wheat and SaskBarley last week jointly called on that province’s government to run a separate risk assessment of the deal.
While now headquartered in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Viterra’s roots are sunk deep in Western Canada, having formed from the 2007 merger of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool with Agricore United, the latter firm being a merger of the combined Manitoba and Alberta pools with United Grain Growers.
Regina-based Viterra went international in 2009 with a deal for Australia’s ABB Grain, then was majority-acquired by commodity firm Glencore in 2012, becoming Glencore Agriculture before rebranding as Viterra internationally in 2020.
The deal is likely to face close regulatory scrutiny in Canada, given Viterra’s significant stakes in Prairie grain handling, oilseed crushing and port terminal capacity — along with Bunge’s stakes in Canadian crushing and its part-ownership of Prairie grain handler G3.
Bunge’s shareholder meeting on Thursday also saw a separate vote, by a similarly wide margin, to approve a plan to change the place of incorporation and residence of the Bunge Group’s parent company from Bermuda to Switzerland.
That plan, Bunge said, also remains “subject to various conditions” including approval from the Supreme Court of Bermuda. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
