Less than two years after buying the eastern Australian grain storage and marketing business, Emerald Grain, the alternative investment group, Roc Partners, has sold it to European agribusiness giant, Louis Dreyfus Company.
The NSW and Victorian-based Emerald, which has about 1 million tonnes of grain storage capacity and export facilities at the Port of Melbourne, is being offloaded by Roc's Longriver Farms business.
The deal is still subject to federal government competition and foreign investment regulatory approvals.
No transaction price has been revealed.
The Louis Dreyfus move is being described as part of a strategic plan to further reinforce the company's strong position in core agri-commodities merchandising in Australia.
"This development is aligned with Louis Dreyfus' commitment to the Australian market, where the company has been active for over a century," LDC's chief executive officer, Michael Gelchie.
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In fact, LDC claims to be the oldest continually operating grain trader in Australia, during which time it has become well established as an oilseed, cereal grain and cotton buyer and exporter.
Emerald Grain has seven grain storage and receival sites from Goolgowi in the western Riverina to Wimmera and Elmore in northern Victoria.
Grower benefits
Longriver Farms director and the Roc partner overseeing food and agribusiness activities, Brad Mytton, said Emerald Grain's grower and customer network would benefit from LDC's scale and expertise in ag commodities.
"I want to thank Emerald Grain's management team and staff for their significant contribution to the successful growth partnership with Longriver Farms," he said.
He expected the Emerald business and customer base to see a continued growth journey.
Emerald Grain chief executive officer, David Johnson, agreed the new ownership was an opportunity for all growers in the network to access LDC's extensive global reach.
"LDC's leadership position in the global agriculture industry reflects its commitment to growers and customers alike, and we look forward to continuing our journey as part of the LDC family," Mr Johnson said.
Emerald boasts marketing ties with about 10,000 farming families offering customers a broad range of winter grain products for export.
Big Louis
The 170-year-old Louis Dreyfus Company's global operations employ 17,000 people across nine business platforms which span stockfeed and pet food production; biodiesel; cosmetics and personal cleaning products; food and beverage lines, cotton processing and shipping, rail and road freight services.
In Australia its operations include grain strorage sites in northern NSW and Queensland, cotton gins at Emerald and Dalby in Queensland and Moree in NSW, a marketing venture with Namoi Cotton and eastern states oilseed storage warehouses.
Chief commercial officer and Singapore-based head of LDC's Asia region, James Zhou, said with Emerald Grain onboard, the global agribusiness looked forward to continuing to support Australia's farming community and grain industry.
The acquisition would reinforce the company's origination network for key grains and oilseeds staples to meet its growing customer needs worldwide.
Until late 2020, when it became part of Roc's diverse $9 billion investment portfolio of agricultural processing, real estate and other investment funds, Emerald Grain was owned by Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation for six years.
Prior to that the Japanese had held a 50 per cent stake since 2010.
Sumitomo's investment support enabled the grain marketer to expand its footprint, buying out several farmer co-operative groups it operated grain accumulation partnerships with, including trading Victoria's SQP Grain and NSW's Southern Ag Grain.
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Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
