Canadian agri-food cooperative La Coop fédérée has completed the acquisition of the grain and crop input assets of Cargill in Ontario after securing the Competition Bureau approval.
La Coop fédérée president Ghislain Gervais said: “This transaction is part of La Coop fédérée’s sustainable growth plan as it strives to become a leader in Canada in the agri-business sector and will allow us to increase our presence in Ontario as well as on the Canadian market.”
The company will acquire the assets of 13 grain, as well as agricultural input establishments and 50% of the stake held by Cargill in South West Ag Partners, a cooperative that has nine grain and agricultural input establishments in Ontario.
The transaction does not include the export terminal in Sarnia or the AgResource agricultural input wholesaler.
With this acquisition, the grain sector of the La Coop fédérées’ Agri-business Division will further expand its activities in the region.
Cargill’s establishments associated with South West Ag Partners and the existing grain marketing group in Ontario will now serve as La Coop fédéré’s marketing entity.
La Coop fédérée executive agricultural vice-president Sébastien Léveillé said: “This agreement demonstrates that the business model of the Agri-business Division of La Coop fédérée, based on the proximity of our dealers with farmers is relevant and performs well in an industry that is experiencing, as is the case for many others, a major wave of consolidations.”
