Inner Grove Heights, Minnesota
July 11, 2007
Land O’Lakes, Inc.
and CHS Inc. today said they
are exploring strategic alternatives, including repositioning,
for the retail agronomy business of Agriliance LLC. Land O’Lakes
and CHS each hold 50-percent interest in Agriliance LLC.
The two companies said that they have retained BMO Capital
Markets (Chicago Office) to assist them in the repositioning
process, and are currently in exclusive negotiations exploring
the sale of The Agronomy Company of Canada, ProSource One and
Agriliance retail locations in the southern U.S. to a group
which includes certain members of the Agriliance management team
and financial backers.
Last month, CHS and Land O’Lakes announced they were
repositioning the Agriliance crop nutrients and crop protection
products businesses. Land O’Lakes will acquire the crop
protection products operations and related technical and support
services, and plans to align it closely with its existing
CROPLAN GENETICS® seed business. CHS will acquire the wholesale
crop nutrients business, which will be operated as part of its
Ag Business segment. This repositioning is expected to be
completed in September.
At the time of the initial announcement, officials of the two
companies said the repositioning would align each business
segment (wholesale crop nutrients and crop protection products)
with the core competencies and strengths of each parent company
and is intended to intensify the focus on each business, provide
opportunities for cost reduction and enable the even more
effective supply of valuable crop inputs to members and
customers. The repositioning of the operations announced today
is consistent with those goals, they said.
CHS Inc. is a diversified energy, grains and foods company
committed to providing the essential resources that enrich
lives. A Fortune 500 company, CHS is owned by farmers, ranchers
and cooperatives from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest
and from the Canadian border to Texas, along with thousands of
preferred stockholders. CHS provides products and services
ranging from grain marketing to food processing to meet the
needs of customers around the world. It also operates petroleum
refineries/pipelines and, through a broad range of working
partnerships, markets and distributes Cenex® brand energy
products and renewable fuels, along with agronomic inputs and
livestock feed to rural America. CHS is listed on the NASDAQ at
CHSCP.
Land O’Lakes, Inc. is a national, farmer-owned food and
agricultural cooperative with annual sales of more than $7
billion. Land O'Lakes does business in all 50 states and more
than 50 countries. It is a leading marketer of a full line of
dairy-based consumer, foodservice and food ingredient products
across the United States; serves its international customers
with a variety of food and animal feed ingredients; and provides
farmers and ranchers with an extensive line of agricultural
supplies (feed, seed, crop nutrients and crop protection
products) and services. Land O’Lakes also provides agricultural
assistance and technical training in more than 25 developing
nations. |
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