Louis Dreyfus Company sells 45% of its shares to Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ
Audio 01:30
A view of the storage tanks at the Louis Dreyfus Company industrial complex in Argentina's Santa Fe province.
EITAN ABRAMOVICH / AFP
By: Altin Lazaj
4 min
The global agricultural commodity trading giant, Louis Dreyfus Company, opens its capital to an Emirati investor.
This is the first time since its creation, 169 years ago, that the group has opened up to non-family shareholders.
Publicity
The holding company which controls Louis Dreyfus Company will sell 45% of its shares to the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ.
It is a break in the history of the group held until now by the family shareholders.
A commercial agreement is linked to this transaction;
the group has in fact signed a long-term contract with the sovereign wealth fund for the supply of agricultural raw materials to the united arab emirates.
By entering the capital of one of the largest traders of agricultural commodities in the world, the Emiratis are thus strengthening their food security in a context of supply concerns caused by the coronavirus.
Financial details of this transaction were not disclosed.
We just know from an official press release that the trading giant, controlled by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, will reinvest part of the sale of shares for the strategic development of the company, ie at least $ 800 million.
The group does indeed need liquidity to reorganize its activities.
It has already embarked on an economic plan, reorganized its governance and withdrew from the metals and dairy trades to develop its main activities: the trade in oilseeds, grains and food processing, particularly in Asia.
As with its competitors, swine fever in China and Sino-US trade tensions weighed on the company's profits last year.
And the economic crisis caused by the pandemic linked to Covid-19 only accentuates the difficulties of society.
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