08 Aug 2016 --- Cargill and Bunge Limited have announced their intention to enter into an agreement under which Cargill will sell to Bunge two oilseed processing plants and businesses in the Netherlands and France.

“We are retaining our Barcelona and Seaforth (Liverpool) operations,” Corinne Holtshausen, Cargill told FoodIngredientsFirst. “These plants are firmly integrated with a number of Cargill’s other businesses serving our local customers in the food and feed sectors in Spain and the UK.”

In the Netherlands, the transaction includes the soybean and rapeseed crush and soybean oil refining facility in the Port of Amsterdam as well as part of the bulk port terminal assets dedicated to supporting discharge and storage of raw materials for the crush plant. In France, it includes the soybean and rapeseed crush facility located in the Port of Brest. The aggregate annual processing capacity at the two locations is approximately two million tons.

The assets are highly complementary to Bunge’s existing soy processing operations in Europe, and will allow Bunge to further expand its global oilseed processing footprint into key Northern European destinations, grow its presence in Europe’s protein market, and further optimize global flows and logistics to serve customers.

Industrial operations and business activities will be integrated within Bunge’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional operations and global soy crush platform, and Bunge is looking forward to welcoming the experienced and skilled employees of the two sites.

Cargill will retain its two other soybean processing facilities in Western Europe, in the ports of Barcelona in Spain and Liverpool in the United Kingdom, as these plants are firmly integrated with a number of Cargill’s other businesses serving local customers in the food and feed sectors in Spain and the UK. Cargill has an extensive network of plants processing and refining other oilseeds and tropical oils across Europe and it continues to focus on serving its customers and growing its longer term business in this region.

Employees associated with the business (120 in the Netherlands and 51 in France) will transfer to Bunge.

Cargill is now informing and consulting its employee representative bodies in the Netherlands and France.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including competition clearance and employee consultation.

by Elizabeth Kenward. Source: Food Ingredients First