The Abu Dhabi government-owned holding company ADQ is in talks with banks to borrow $ 1 billion to support the acquisition of a stake in Louis Dreyfus.
According to Arabianet, Louis Dreyfus Company agreed, this November, to sell a large stake to the Abu Dhabi-based holding company, in its first foreign investment The family commodity business, founded by Leopol Louis-Dreyfus in 1851.
The two companies said in a joint statement, last week, that the holding company of Louis Dreyfus will sell an indirect equity stake of 45% in Louis Dreyfus to the holding.
Louis Dreyfus is one of the four largest global commodity trading companies, along with Archer Daniels Midland, Bungee and Cargill.
The company is trying to navigate a period of weak profit margins in the sale and purchase of basic crops, and like its peers, it has shifted to the food processing sector in order to boost revenues.
transaction value
The value of the deal was not disclosed, but the two companies said that a minimum of $ 800 million would be invested in Louis Dreyfus.
Margherita Louis-Dreyfus, who took control of the group in 2009 after the death of her husband Robert, was looking for an investor after accumulating large debts to buy minority stakes from the company's family shareholders.
After informing Reuters in January that it might sell a significant non-controlling stake in the company, it was reported in September that Louis-Dreyfus was in talks to sell a stake to the holding.
The holding, founded in 2018, said the investment in Louis Dreyfus would boost its food and agricultural products portfolio after it agreed this year to acquire 50% of the Al Dhahirah agricultural group.
