The prospective partners of Ardent Mills on March 27 amended a termination rights provision of their partnership agreement. The change was detailed in a Form 8-K filed March 31 with the Securities and Exchange Commission by ConAgra Foods, Inc.
In the filing, ConAgra said its March 4, 2013, agreement to establish Ardent in partnership with Cargill and CHS contained “customary termination rights, including the right to terminate the transaction if it has not closed by March 31, 2014 (which may be extended to June 30, 2014 in certain financing-related circumstances).”
ConAgra noted that on Feb. 10, 2014, the company offered a revised timeline for completion of the transaction in which the closing was expected by the end of June 2014. ConAgra at the time cited an ongoing regulatory review process as one factor among “various reasons” for the revised timeline.
Consistent with the revised timeline, the three companies on March 27, 2014, amended their agreement “which, among other matters, amends the outside termination date included in the Master Agreement so that the parties may terminate the transaction if it has not closed by June 30, 2014 (which may be extended to September 30, 2014 in certain financing-related circumstances).”
Once completed, Ardent Mills will combine the North American flour milling operations and related businesses operated through the ConAgra Mills division of ConAgra Foods and the Horizon Milling joint venture of Cargill and CHS. The company would be the largest flour milling business in North America.
