Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced the acquisition of the oilseeds processing facilities on Thursday [August 16]. The new sites are located in Uberlândia, in the state of Minas Gerais, and in Porto Franco in Maranhão.
The purchase represents the “latest step” in the company’s ongoing strategic growth plan, a company spokesperson said.
“They will significantly strengthen our origination and processing footprint in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country, which are seeing good growth in demand for meal and oils,” she told FeedNavigator.
Brazilian facilities
ADM already was a diversified oilseed processor, said Greg Morris, senior vice president and president of ADM’s oilseed business. The new purchase expands those capabilities and brings access to a network of origination and storage silos in northeastern and southeastern Brazil.
The new facilities are crush and refinery plants and are expected to help strengthen ADM’s position in that region and the company’s larger global network, he said. The agreement comes after the company launched an oilseeds-based joint venture with Cargill in Egypt and made enhancements to processing operations in Europe and North America.
Previously, ADM had soy-processing plants in Rondonópolis, Campo Grande, Ipameri, Joaçaba and Uberlândia, along with a sunflower-focused plant in Campo Novo dos Parecis, the company reported. It also has biodiesel refineries in Rondonópolis and Joaçaba and storage facilities able to manage about 2.2m metric tons.
“ADM’s five current processing plants on Brazil have a combined crush capacity of 13,300 tons/day,” the spokesperson said. “The new facilities will add approximately 3,300 tons/day of new capacity to ADM’s Brazilian operations.”
The agreement with Algar Agro is set to go through the Brazilian regulatory approval process, and is anticipated to close by the end of the year, ADM said. When completed, about 400 Algar Agro employees will transfer to ADM.
Protexin tie-up
On Wednesday, ADM announced that it had completed its acquisition of Probiotics International Limited, part of the umbrella brand Protexin. The UK-based company makes probiotic supplements and natural health care additives for use with production animals, pets and humans.
The company will now be known as ADM Protexin Limited and is set to produce innovative and research-based probiotics, ADM said. The company is being added to ADM’s health and wellness business.
The £185m ($235.3m) deal was one of the more recent investments ADM has made as it expands its portfolio of health and wellness products for animal nutrition, the company reported.
The move combines Protexin’s range of probiotic products, commercial network and regulatory experience with ADM’s research and development abilities, said Vikram Luthar, president of ADM health and wellness. It also expands the company’s current portfolio of non-medicated ingredients including bioactives, botanical extracts and specialty nutritional oils.
