Bunge to Acquire Two European Oilseed Plants from Cargill

Cargill announced that it has agreed to sell two oilseed processing plants and their businesses in France and the Netherlands to Bunge for an undisclosed amount.

The assets in France include a soybean and rapeseed crush facility located in the Port of Brest, while the deal in The Netherlands includes a soybean and rapeseed crush facility and a soybean oil refining facility in the Port of Amsterdam along with a portion of the bulk port terminal assets that support discharge and storage of raw materials for the crush plant. The two locations have a combined workforce of 171 employees and a combined processing capacity of two million tons.

“Industrial operations and business activities will be integrated within Bunge’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional operations and global soy crush platform, and Bunge is looking forward to welcoming the experienced and skilled employees of the two sites,’ Cargill stated in a press release.

These are the latest deals by Cargill as it continues to restructure and streamline its operations and management team. Bloomberg reports that in the face of falling commodity prices, over the past two years, Cargill has announced no less than nine divestments, as chief executive, David MacLennan, heads the consolidation of 70 business into five groups tailored to meet customers’ needs.

Some of the most recent of these divestments include the sale of its agri-retail unit to Calgary-based Agrium, the sale of its dressing, sauces, and mayonnaise (DSM) business to Ventura Foods, the sale of two feedlots in Bovina and Dalhart, Texas to Friona Industries, the sale of its wheat flour division in Argentina to Molino Cañuelas Sacifia, and the exiting of its crop inputs business in Central and Eastern Europe.

Bunge states that the addition of the two oilseed assets will be highly complementary to its existing soy processing portfolio in Europe and will be key to the group’s expansion into the oilseed processing space in Northern Europe. The deal is also expected to help grow Bunge’s presence in Europe’s protein market while optimizing the group’s global flows and logistics.

Cargill will retain its two additional soybean processing plants in Barcelona, Spain and Liverpool, England due to their high degree of integration with several of Cargill’s other businesses along the food and feed value chains in Spain and the UK.