By Karl Plume
CHICAGO (Reuters) -Global agribusiness Bunge Global said it officially closed a long-delayed deal to merge with Glencore-backed Viterra on Wednesday, two years after announcing the $34 billion mega-deal.
The merger creates a global crop trading and processing giant that is poised to rival agribusiness giants Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill, at a time when slumping grain prices, weak crop-processing margins and geopolitical tensions have eroded profitability in the sector.
Bunge shares closed 1.4% higher on Wednesday.
The deal culminates a dramatic turnaround for Missouri-based Bunge.
Just seven years ago, the two-century-old company struggled through a particularly weak stretch of earnings results that left it vulnerable to takeover attempts by rivals Glencore and ADM.
Investor pressure forced out Bunge’s CEO Soren Schroder in late 2018, before Greg Heckman was appointed to lead the company in April 2019.
Last month, China’s market regulator granted conditional approval for the merger, which cleared the final hurdle for the deal.
Heckman will remain CEO of the combined company, and Bunge Chief Financial Officer John Neppl will also keep his role, Bunge said on Wednesday. Viterra CEO David Mattiske and Julio Garros, Bunge’s co-president of agribusiness, will be co-chief operating officers.
The merger with Netherlands-based Viterra enhances Bunge’s grain exporting and oilseed processing businesses in the United States, where it has a smaller presence than its larger rivals ADM and Cargill, according to analysts.
The deal also expands Bunge’s export capacity and physical grain storage and handling footprint in major global wheat suppliers Canada and Australia.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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