ADM Has Made Takeover Approach to Bunge Ltd.

By Dana Mattioli and Jacob Bunge 

Archer Daniels Midland Co. has made a takeover approach to Bunge Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, setting up a possible bidding war after Glencore PLC earlier made an overture to the agricultural powerhouse.

Details of the ADM approach are unclear and it's possible neither company would succeed in buying Bunge, which had a market value of about $9.8 billion as of Friday afternoon. ADM's valuation was $22.6 billion.

Mining conglomerate Glencore approached White Plains, N.Y.-based Bunge, which ranks among the world's largest traders and processors of crops like soybeans and corn, The Wall Street Journal reported in May. The two companies have a standstill arrangement that temporarily prevents Glencore from making a hostile bid for Bunge. It's unclear whether the expression of interest from ADM negates the standstill, which expires in coming weeks, and enables Glencore to make another move now.

Glencore has been widely expected to re-engage with Bunge once the standstill expires though it's unclear what its intentions are at present.

ADM and Bunge represent the "A" and "B" in the so-called ABCDs, the global commodity-trading companies that dominate the world-wide flow of basic foodstuffs. Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and Louis Dreyfus Commodities, headquartered in the Netherlands, are the other two.

--David Benoit contributed to this article.

Write to Dana Mattioli at [e-mail] and Jacob Bunge at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 19, 2018 16:11 ET (21:11 GMT)

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