Paris | Reuters — The agricultural trading industry can expect more consolidation at a regional level in an effort to improve margins, but big deals between global merchants are becoming more difficult, Louis Dreyfus’ CEO said. Merchants have been grappling with lower profits from sourcing and shipping commodities such as grain and oilseeds, prompting cutbacks […] Read more
Tag Archives consolidation
Grain trade regional tie-ups seen more likely over mega-deals
Bunge board backs management after earnings miss, CEO says
Chicago | Reuters — Agricultural merchant Bunge reported a worse-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, the latest in a string of poor results that has left the company’s management fending off takeover bids from rivals. Several years of abundant grains supply on global markets have made it tough for Bunge and its rivals […] Read more
ADM reported making takeover approach to Bunge
Reuters — Top U.S. grains merchant Archer Daniels Midland has proposed a takeover of Bunge Ltd., the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, a move that could set up a battle for Bunge with London-based rival Glencore. Large grain traders which make money by buying, selling, storing, shipping and trading crops have struggled in recent […] Read more
Bunge shares jump on report of Glencore standstill agreement
Reuters — Shares of U.S. commodities trader Bunge surged on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Glencore had a standstill agreement that temporarily prevents the Swiss company from making a hostile bid for Bunge. Bunge had rebuffed a takeover approach by Glencore in May. Speculation has swirled for months that Glencore would make […] Read more
U.S. grain handler Lansing buys Interstate
Chicago | Reuters — Grain handler Lansing Trade Group LLC is buying Interstate Commodities, marking another step in consolidation that is rippling through the U.S. agriculture sector as persistently low prices keep pressure on profits. The combined companies could handle as much as seven per cent of the U.S. corn supply of over 15 billion […] Read more
Ag census logs more younger and female farm operators
While people age 55 and over still make up the fastest-growing segment of farmers in Canada, the latest Census of Agriculture shows slightly more producers under age 35 for the first time in five censuses. Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census of Agriculture, released Wednesday, counted 271,935 farm operators — that is, people who make management decisions […] Read more
U.S. agribusiness deal not a priority for Glencore
Lausanne | Reuters — Glencore does not see further consolidation in agricultural commodities as straightforward and views a U.S. acquisition as less crucial than in the past, the group’s agriculture chief said Tuesday. The diversified trading and mining group had pointed to the possibility of making bolt-on acquisitions after posting improved results for 2016 and […] Read more
As Trump meets biotech CEOs, farm advisers fret over empty USDA spot
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has left the agriculture secretary as the last department head to be named to his cabinet, while a meeting with the chief executives of two agribusiness giants gave a hint at a roster of farm issues the incoming president will face. Trump met on Wednesday with the […] Read more
Agrium sees opportunities from major merger talk
Reuters — Agrium, North America’s largest retail seller of products for crop producers, could benefit if some of the biggest makers of seed and agricultural chemicals merge, CEO Chuck Magro said on Wednesday. Responding to a question during a company investor day in Toronto about how possible tie-ups of ChemChina and Syngenta, or of Bayer […] Read more
Monsanto rejects Bayer bid
Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, has rejected Bayer AG’s US$62 billion acquisition bid as “incomplete and financially inadequate” but hasn’t slammed the door on further talks. Reuters on Tuesday quoted two unnamed sources as saying Monsanto can see the logic of combining with the German drugs and crop chemicals group, as per Bayer’s proposal […] Read more
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