China's market regulator has granted conditional approval for global agribusiness Bunge Global's merger with Glencore-backed grain handler Viterra, it said on Monday, clearing the final hurdle for the $34 billion mega-deal announced two years ago.
Global agribusiness Bunge Global has received regulatory approval from China for its acquisition of grain handler Viterra and expects to close the $34 billion deal "on or around July 2," the company said in a statement on Friday.
U.S. grains merchant Bunge is close to getting a ruling from Chinese regulators on its $8.2 billion (C$11.2 billion) purchase of Glencore-backed Viterra with a verdict expected within days, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Bunge Global's $34 billion merger with Glencore-backed Viterra is being stalled by trade tensions between the U.S. and China, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The National Farmers Union denounced the approval of the Bunge-Viterra merger in a statement released on Jan. 17. The NFU said the multi-billion dollar deal “effectively ends competition in Canada’s agricultural commodity sector,” as it creates the world’s largest agricultural commodity trader, and it will control 40 per cent of the Canadian grain market.
Following the federal approval of Bunge’s acquisition of Viterra on Tuesday, Jan. 14, stakeholders made their voices heard in a wave of reactions to the controversial merger.
Canada on Tuesday approved with conditions U.S. grains merchant Bunge's $34 billion (C$48.7 billion) merger with Glencore-backed Viterra, clearing one of the final remaining obstacles for a global agriculture tie-up that is unprecedented in dollar value.
U.S. grains merchant Bunge and Glencore-backed Viterra's $34 billion merger deal is heading towards conditional EU antitrust approval, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.