Bunge seals $34B Viterra deal to rival ADM, Cargill

Global agribusiness Bunge Global said it officially closed a long-delayed deal to merge with Glencore-backed Viterra on Wednesday, two years after announcing the $34 billion mega-deal. The merger creates a global crop trading and processing giant that is poised to rival agribusiness giants Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill, at a time when slumping grain prices, weak crop-processing margins and geopolitical tensions have eroded profitability in the sector. Bunge shares closed 1.4% higher on Wednesday. The deal culminates a dramatic turnaround for Missouri-based Bunge. Just seven years ago, the two-century-old company struggled through a particularly weak stretch of earnings results that left it vulnerable to takeover attempts by rivals Glencore and ADM. Investor pressure forced out Bunge’s CEO Soren Schroder in late 2018, before Greg Heckman was appointed to lead the company in April 2019. Last month, China’s market regulator granted conditional approval for the merger, which ...