LEAWOOD, KAS. — Seaboard Corp. on Sept. 18 said it has entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Groupe Mimran under which Seaboard intends to acquire the flour milling and associated businesses of Groupe Mimran located in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Monaco.
The acquired businesses would become part of Seaboard’s Commodity Trading and Milling segment and would increase the flour and feed milling capacity of its consolidated and non-consolidated businesses by approximately 15%, to more than 24,000 tonnes per day, and its grain trading volume by approximately 9%, to about 10.5 million tonnes per year, Seaboard said.
“We are excited to further our investment in sub-Saharan Africa with this acquisition and believe the culture and operations will be a great fit with our existing structure,” said Steven Bresky, president and chief executive officer of Seaboard. “Seaboard has had commercial ties with the Mimran Group for almost 40 years, and we look forward to integrating the business into our existing trade strategy and expand our cargo and trade opportunities as a result of this transaction. We expect to continue to work closely together with the Mimran Group by leveraging our existing strengths into a better industrial and trade-based business.”
Founded nearly 100 years ago, Seaboard operates globally through a network of integrated industrial service-oriented companies with sales of more than $5 billion per year. The company’s main activities include processing and production of pork and turkey products, containerized shipping, and international grain processing and trading.
Groupe Mimran is one of the leading agri-food groups in West Africa, operating sugar refining, flour milling and animal feed businesses. Groupe Mimran was founded more than 60 years ago by the Mimran family, and its main companies in flour milling and sugar refining include Grands Moulins de Dakar, Grands Moulins d’Abidjan, and Compagnie Sucriere Senegalaise.
“We are delighted to enter into this memorandum of understanding with Seaboard,” said David Mimran, president director general of Grands Moulin d’Abidjan and Grands Moulins de Dakar. “An important consideration for us was that any new owner shares the same values and culture that we have instilled within our businesses over the years. Just like ourselves, Steve Bresky is the third generation of his family running a substantial business, and I very much look forward to assisting Mr. Bresky and his team in any way we can with respect to this new chapter in the development of the business.”
The proposed acquisition is subject to negotiation and execution of a definitive purchase agreement and finalization of Seaboard’s due diligence.
