Canadian agricultural supplier
Agrium Inc. (AGU) could bid,
John Hughes, an analyst at Desjardins Securities Inc. in Toronto, said in an interview. U.S. agricultural trading companies
Bunge Ltd. (BG), Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Co. may be interested, said Andrew L.B. Hamlin, a
money manager at
Aston Hill Financial Inc. (AHF) in Toronto, which oversees about C$5.5 billion ($5.6 billion), including Viterra shares.
Bunge, ADM
“The most interesting of those is Bunge,” Hamlin said in a telephone interview. “They do have some presence in western Canada --they have some canola-crushing plants in Saskatchewan and Alberta -- but they don’t have any grain-handling.”
Susan Burns, a Bunge spokeswoman, David Weintraub, an ADM spokesman, Lisa Clemens, a Cargill spokeswoman, and Todd Coakwell, an Agrium spokesmen, all declined to comment.
Viterra’s share of the Canadian grain-handling market may rise to almost 50 percent in the next few years from 45 percent, Chief Executive Officer Mayo Schmidt said in an interview yesterday. Cargill’s existing share of the grain market may create regulatory issues should it bid for Viterra, Hamlin said.
North American food and agriculture companies have fetched a 31 percent premium on average in takeovers greater than $1 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Using Viterra’s closing price yesterday, that would imply an offer for C$14.38 a share.