Archer Daniels Midland To Expand Partnership With Asia-Based Wilmar

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd. (WLMIY, F34.SG) to expand the companies' existing partnership.

ADM, which owns a 16% stake in Wilmar, said the companies would extend their partnership to fertilizer, ocean freight and tropical oil refining in Europe. The two companies, which trade and process grains and oilseeds, have signed a memorandum of understanding, ADM executives said at an investor presentation Tuesday afternoon.

ADM's partnership with Wilmar has given it access to the market in China, where the two companies built a network of soybean-crushing plants. ADM, based in Decatur, Ill., said the companies' relationship started in the mid-1990s.

"We have an excellent relationship with Wilmar's leadership, and we see Wilmar as a key partner, especially in our strategy to serve growing Asian demand for agricultural products," ADM CEO Patricia Woertz said.

The companies will now collaborate globally on fertilizer purchasing and distribution, and they will work to improve ocean freight fleet management, with both companies contributing two ships to the effort.

In tropical oils, the companies will work together to better use plant capacity in Europe, ADM said.

Woertz also told investors that a company job-reduction program, announced in January, would cut 4% of the company's global work force, up from an initial estimate of 3%. The company will take a one-time charge at the upper end of the previously announced range of $50 million to $75 million, Woertz said.

She added that pre-tax savings from the job cuts would reach $125 million annually, up from a previous estimate of $100 million, and that the company would start to realize benefits in the fourth quarter.

The cuts will make ADM a "much more creative, lean, nimble organization," Woertz said.

ADM is completing its job cuts in the U.S., which have included layoffs and early retirements, this week, while other cuts globally will proceed over the next several months. The number of total job cuts is expected to exceed 1,200.

-By Ian Berry, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4072; [e-mail]