July 7, 2016

Bunge, Wilmar form crush operations JV in Vietnam

Leading agribusiness and food company Bunge Limited has announced it will form a joint venture with Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd to leverage both companies' footprints in Asia.

Bunge, with headquarters in White Plains, New York, will sell 45% of its equity in its Vietnam crush operations to Wilmar to form a three-party joint venture with Quang Dung-a leading soybean meal distributor in Vietnam and majority owner of Green Feed, a growing Vietnamese feed milling business-retaining its existing 10% stake in the operations. Bunge and Wilmar will be equal 45% shareholders.

The transaction connects Bunge's upstream crushing capabilities to Wilmar's downstream oil refining and consumer products business, and to Green Feed's feed milling and marketing activities. The joint venture creates integrated operations that are both a source and sales outlet for oil in Vietnam-one of the fastest-growing domestic edible oils markets in Asia-and that enable increased participation in the domestic feed milling industry.

"Bunge is excited to partner with Wilmar, the largest downstream edible oils player in Vietnam," said Bunge CEO Soren Schroder. "The collaboration will create increased operating, marketing and logistics synergies across the Vietnam oils and soybean meal value chains, and help us remain a low-cost operator with the highest efficiency possible."

Kuok Khoon Hong, chairman and CEO of Wilmar, said Bunge "is a natural partner", describing it as the largest producer of soybean oil while Wilmar is a major buyer of soybean oil. "The soybean meal distribution capabilities of the joint venture also complement Wilmar's animal feed ingredients business in Vietnam, including rice bran, wheat bran, palm kernel expeller, copra expeller, canola meal and feed oils", he added.

Wilmar has over 500 manufacturing plants and an extensive distribution network covering China, India, Indonesia and some 50 other countries. The Group has a multinational workforce of about 92,000 people.

Bunge operates in over 40 countries with approximately 35,000 employees.