One of the companies that is buying a share in the former Canadian Wheat Board says it will be announcing a new investment in the Canadian logistics sector shortly.
A report published May 5 by online magazine Gulf Business News says the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co., will soon make “a greenfield investment in the logistics sector in Canada.”
A formal announcement is expected in about three weeks time.
SALIC Canada and Bunge Canada are partners in a joint venture known as G3 Global Grain Group.
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Last month, G3 announced plans to buy a 50.1 percent stake in the former Canadian Wheat Board for $250 million.
The report in Gulf Business News offered no further details about SALIC’s investment but according to the report, SALIC’s chief executive officer, Abdullah Aldubaikhi, told Reuters that the Saudi-based company “will be doing something from scratch.”
“We will build facilities to supplement and complement the logistics that we already have in Canada,” he said.
Aldubaikhi told Reuters that SALIC is planning to invest in similar infrastructure assets in Brazil.
“We are building something similar to what we want in Canada in Brazil and very soon will be announcing three or four operations,” he said.
In a recent interview with the Western Producer, G3 chief executive officer Karl Gerrand said his vision of the new CWB includes an enterprise that ships significant quantities of western Canadian grain east and west.
CWB already has an export terminal at Thunder Bay, Ont.
A port facility on the West Coast, presumably in Vancouver, is high on the company’s wish list, according to CWB officials.
Officials from SALIC were not immediately available for comment.
brian.cross@producer.com
