Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM:US), the world’s largest corn processor, said it is abandoning plans to sell its cocoa business and will instead focus on divesting its chocolate operations.
ADM hired advisers to help sell the chocolate-making assets as it retains its cocoa presses, the Decatur, Illinois-based company said in a statement today. The company also agreed to sell its South American fertilizer business to The Mosaic Co. for $350 million and plans to purchase the 20 percent of Alfred C. Toepfer International GmbH it doesn’t already own for 83 million euros ($114 million).
Selling the chocolate unit, which has operations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Belgium and Germany, is part of ADM’s review of its businesses, which could include acquisitions as well as asset sales. ADM had determined that the cocoa unit, which Stephens Inc. estimates to be worth $1.9 billion, should not be “held for sale,” according to a Nov. 1 filing.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Bloomberg Businessweek