Commodity giant Louis Dreyfus completes stake sale to Abu Dhabi's ADQ
Reuters reports that the overall value of the deal was not disclosed but LDC said in a statement that a portion of the proceeds had been invested in the full repayment of a $1.051 billion loan that LDC had granted to its parent company.
The stake sale to ADQ was initially announced last November.
That ended a long hunt for an investor by controlling shareholder and chairwoman Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who had built up debt buying out other family members during a period of lean profits for the commodity merchant.
LDC, known as Dreyfus, is the "D" of the "ABCD" quartet of renowned global agricultural commodity firms alongside Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Bunge Ltd and Cargill Inc.
“This partnership with ADQ reinforces LDC’s position and financial strength to accelerate strategic investments (...) including in new areas such as plant-based proteins, as well as in projects to move further downstream in several of our existing business lines,” Chief Executive Michael Gelchie said in the statement.
A surge in commodity prices and strong grain demand from China have also boosted earnings for merchants during the coronavirus pandemic, helping LDC's profit recover last year.
For state-owned ADQ, the investment in LDC extends a foray into food commodities that are crucial to import-reliant Gulf states.
