Another piece of Viterra’s former global grain empire has been auctioned off.
Officials from Cargill announced earlier this week that they have reached a deal with Switzerland-based GlencoreXstrata to purchase Joe White Maltings, the largest malting company in Australia.
Joe White Maltings — which consists of seven malting plants in Australia — was previously owned by Viterra.
Glencore acquired the malting plants as part of a $6 billion takeover of Viterra in December 2012.
The Cargill deal is subject to regulatory approvals, but officials with Cargill and Glencore said they expect the transaction to be completed before the end of 2013.
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The purchase price was not disclosed.
Cargill is already one of the largest maltsters in the world, but until now, the Minneapolis-based company did not have any malting assets in Australia, one of the key suppliers to Asia’s rapidly expanding brewing industry.
Cargill Malt already has malting plants in Belgium, France, Spain, Holland, Germany, the United States, Argentina and Canada.
In Canada, it owns a majority interest in Prairie Malt, a 220,000 tonne per year facility based at Biggar, Sask.
“The addition of Joe White Malting will complete Cargill’s global footprint in all key production areas and enable us to better serve our global and leading regional brewers in the region,” said Doug Eden, president of Cargill’s global malting operations.
Joe White Malting is a strong strategic fit for Cargill’s operations in Australia and the global malting industry, added Phillippa Purser, managing director of Cargill Australia.
“Through its investments over many years, Cargill continues to demonstrate a long-term commitment to the future and success of Australian agriculture and farmers …” Purser said in news release.
“We look forward to bringing our malt industry expertise and additional capital to Joe White Maltings to continue to grow the business.”
