This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2010) |
Company type | Public |
---|---|
TSX: AU | |
Founded | 2001 |
Defunct | 2007 |
Fate | Merged with Saskatchewan Wheat Pool |
Successor | Viterra |
Headquarters | Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN |
Products | Grain Handling, Crop Production Services, Livestock, Hail Insurance |
Agricore United, Inc. was a farmer-directed agribusiness in Canada. [1] It supplied crop nutrition and crop protection products, and offered grain handling and marketing services. It was created on November 1, 2001 by the merger of Agricore and United Grain Growers. It was headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its shares were publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "AU" ("AU.LV" – Limited voting common shares; "AU.DB" – Convertible 9% debentures; "AU.PR.A" – Series 'A' preferred shares) until June 15, 2007, when it was taken over by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) had a 28% stake in the company at the time of the takeover. [2]
Agricore United was the continuation of several companies with deep historical roots in western Canada. The Grain Growers' Grain Company Limited was originally incorporated in 1906 under the laws of Manitoba. In 1917, The Grain Growers' Grain Company Limited and The Alberta Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Company Limited amalgamated to form United Grain Growers Limited (UGG). In 1923, the Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP) was incorporated under the laws of Alberta. In 1924, Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE) was incorporated under the laws of Manitoba. In 1992, UGG was continued under the Governing Act, a Special Act of the Parliament of Canada. In 1998, AWP and MPE merged to form Agricore Cooperative Limited. In 2001, UGG combined its business operations with Agricore Cooperative Ltd. and began doing business as Agricore United. [3]
In November 2006, the company became the target of takeover bids from two other rival grain handlers: the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool ("SaskPool", "SWP") of Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg-based James Richardson International ("JRI"). The initial and subsequent offers from SaskPool involved a stock swap, with no or little cash being offered, prompting the AU Board of Directors to reject them. In February 2007, AU and JRI announced that they had negotiated a merger arrangement to form a publicly traded company to be known as "Richardson Agricore", subject to shareholder agreement.
A subsequent bidding war led to a stock+cash offer from SaskPool and an all-cash offer from JRI to form a private company; [4] a higher, $20.50 all-cash offer from SaskPool in May eventually prevailed, [5] with 81% of the limited voting shares being tendered to the Pool by shareholders by the end of May, including all the ADM shares. This exceeded the 75% required by the terms of AU's incorporation to change the corporate structure and, after a special shareholders' meeting in June, AU became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. [6] AU's CEO, Brian Hayward, [7] resigned, as did the Board of Directors, and SaskPool's CEO and Board were voted in. SaskPool had Agricore United's common and preferred shares delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on June 20, 2007, and the members of the senior management team for the amalgamated company were announced the next day. [8] As of June 29, no decision had been reached on the name or location of the new company, and it was expected to take about 12 months to complete the merging of the company's operations.
As a result of the acceptance of the SaskPool offer, JRI received a $35 million termination fee and was able to purchase a number of AU's grain and farm supply facilities; Cargill Canada was able to make a similar purchase, as part of a pre-merger deal width SaskPool to satisfy Canada's Competition Bureau. AU employees, along with the grain and farm supply inventories at the affected facilities, were transferred to the purchasing companies. [9]
It is generally believed within the Canadian agricultural industry that the biggest winners in the transaction were AU's shareholders, with SaskPool paying too much for AU, and that SaskPool gave up too many facilities to their competitors. [10] [11] [12] Substantial number of head office employees are expected to be laid off once the integration of the two companies is complete.
On August 30, 2007, the company formerly known as Agricore United ceased to exist and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was rebranded to be known as Viterra. [13]
Agricore bought, marketed and transported grain, oil seeds and other special crops from the farm to end-use markets using the company's network of grain elevators from Manitoba to British Columbia and ownership/interest in port terminals in Vancouver, Thunder Bay and Prince Rupert. The grain was moved from the farmer's field to the company's geographically dispersed and strategically located country elevator network. Grain was then shipped to a domestic, U.S. or Mexican customer, such as a flour mill, crushing plant, feed mill or maltster, or to a port terminal for export to end-use customers in Europe, South America, the Pacific Rim, Africa and the Middle East.
The company sold more crop inputs in western Canada than any other company. This included manufacture, distribution and crop production support, including crop nutrition and crop protection products, seed and agronomic services to farmers, through about 200 locations from Manitoba to British Columbia. Agronomic Crop Enhancement (ACE) specialists provide technical advice on crop production issues and help the Customer Service Representative (CSR) advise the grower about choices for the most profitable crop practices. Beyond offering crop nutrition such as fertilizers, more than 200 crop protection products were offered including herbicides and insecticides. Agricore owned or leases three distribution warehouses, and supported the sale of crop nutrition and protection products by providing custom application services directly or through third-party contractors.
The company's livestock business formulated and manufactured feed for dairy and beef cattle, swine, poultry and other specialty feeds from seven HACCP certified feed mills, one HACCP certified pre-mix manufacturing centre and one HACCP compliant pre-mix manufacturing centre. The company had feed mills and pre-mix facilities service customers in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba, including two new feed mills constructed in Olds, AB (2000) and Edmonton, AB (2004).
John Edward Brownlee, was the fifth premier of Alberta, serving from 1925 until 1934. Born in Port Ryerse, Ontario, he studied history and political science at the University of Toronto's Victoria College before moving west to Calgary to become a lawyer. His clients included the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA); through his connection with that lobby group, he was involved in founding the United Grain Growers (UGG).
A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits it in a silo or other storage facility.
The Canadian Wheat Board was a marketing board for wheat and barley in Western Canada. Established by the Parliament of Canada on 5 July 1935, its operation was governed by the Canadian Wheat Board Act as a mandatory producer marketing system for wheat and barley in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and a small part of British Columbia. It was illegal for any farmer in areas under the CWB's jurisdiction to sell their wheat and barley through any other channel than the CWB. Although often called a monopoly, it was actually a monopsony since it was the only buyer of wheat and barley. It was a marketing agency acting on behalf of Western Canadian farmers, passing all profits from its operation back to farmers. Its market power over wheat and barley marketing was referred to as the "Single Desk".
Sintaluta is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada. The population of Sintaluta is approximately 119 people according to the 2016 Canadian Census. The town is located about 85 km east of Regina. The town is on the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Alberta Wheat Pool was the first of Canada's wheat farmer co-operatives in 1923.
The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricultural grain handling operation in the province of Saskatchewan. Before becoming Viterra, SWP had operated 276 retail outlets and more than 100 grain handling and marketing centres. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool operated under the name of AgPro in the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Alberta. Begun as a co-operative in the 1920s, the company became a publicly traded corporation in the 1990s. After the 2007 takeover of its competitor, Winnipeg-based Agricore United, the Pool name was retired. The merged company operated under the name Viterra until 2013, when it was acquired by Glencore International.
The United Grain Growers, or UGG, was a Canadian grain farmers' cooperative for grain storage and distribution that operated between 1917 and 2001.
Viterra Limited is a Canadian grain handling business, that began as the nation's largest grain handler, with its historic formative roots in prairie grain-handling cooperatives, among them the iconic Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Viterra Inc grew into a global agri-business with operations in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and China. Viterra operated three distinct, inter-related businesses: Grain Handling & Marketing, Agri-Products and Processing, enabling it to generate earnings at various points on the food production chain from field to the table. Following its $6.1-billion acquisition by Glencore International, on 1 January 2013, Viterra was merged with Glencore purchaser, 8115222 Canada Inc., headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
A wheat pool is a co-operative that markets grain on behalf of its farmer-members.
Parrish & Heimbecker Limited is a Canadian grain company with about 1,500 employees across Canada and the northern United States. The company's divisions include flour milling, feed milling, grain marketing, transportation and logistics.
Richardson International Limited is a privately held Canadian agricultural and food industry company headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company is one of several companies that are owned by James Richardson & Sons Limited. The company is a worldwide handler and merchandiser of all major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds and a vertically integrated processor and manufacturer of oats and canola-based products. Richardson has over 2,500 employees across Canada, the U.S. and U.K. Richardson International is a subsidiary of James Richardson & Sons, Limited, established in 1857.
The Warner elevator row is a group of four historic wood-cribbed grain elevators standing in a row from south to north alongside the Canadian Pacific Railway line from Great Falls, Montana to Lethbridge, Alberta at the east entrance of the village of Warner, Alberta, Canada. At one time, the row had at least seven elevators.
Manitoba Pool Elevators was a grain trade company founded in 1924. It became a subsidiary of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool until November 1932, when the Pool declared bankruptcy. In 1998 Alberta Wheat Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevators merged to form Agricore Cooperative Limited. In 2001, United Grain Growers combined its business operations with Agricore Cooperative Ltd. and carried on business as Agricore United, a publicly traded company, no longer a farmer-owned cooperative. In 2007, Agricore United was taken over by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, another publicly traded company. The merged corporation was renamed Viterra.
The Manitoba Grain Growers' Association (MGGA) was a farmer's association that was active in Manitoba, Canada, in the first two decades of the 20th century. It provided a voice for farmers in their struggle with grain dealers and the railways, and was influential in obtaining favorable legislation. The MGGA supported the Grain Growers' Grain Company, a cooperative of prairie farmers, and its organ the Grain Growers' Guide. At first it remained neutral politically, but in 1920 it restructured as the United Farmers of Manitoba in preparation for becoming a political party.
The Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) was a farmer's association that was active in Saskatchewan, Canada in the early 20th century. It was a successor to the Territorial Grain Growers' Association, and was formed in 1906 after Saskatchewan became a province. It provided a voice for farmers in their struggle with grain dealers and the railways, and was influential in obtaining favorable legislation. The association initially resisted calls to create a farmer-owned marketing company. Later it did support formation of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company. The SGGA helped the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, a cooperative marketing organization, to become established in 1924. In 1926 the SGGA merged with the more radical Farmers' Union of Canada, which had earlier split from the SGGA, to create the United Farmers of Canada,
Edward Alexander Partridge was a Canadian teacher, farmer, agrarian radical, businessman and author. He was born in Ontario but moved to Saskatchewan where he taught and then became a farmer. He was active in the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA), founded in 1902, which addressed various problems with the Western Canada grain market. He founded the cooperative Grain Growers' Grain Company, the predecessor of the United Grain Growers, and the Grain Growers' Guide, a widely distributed weekly paper. His "Partridge Plan" was a broad and visionary proposal for addressing a wide range of farmers' issues, eliminating many abuses caused by the near-monopoly of grain elevator companies, and resulted in important reforms by the provincial governments. Patridge was named a National Historic Person in 2018.
The Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was a farmers' cooperative founded in the prairie provinces of western Canada in 1906. The GGGC met strong resistance from existing grain dealers. It was forced off the Winnipeg Grain Exchange and almost failed. With help from the Manitoba government it regained its seat on the exchange, and soon had a profitable grain trading business. The company founded the Grain Growers' Guide, which became the most popular farmer's newspaper in the region. In 1912 the GGGC began operating inland and terminal grain elevators, and in 1913 moved into the farm supply business. The GGGC was financially secure and owned or operated almost 200 elevators as well as 122 coals sheds and 145 warehouses by the time it merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company to form the United Grain Growers in 1917.
The Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company (SCEC) was a farmer-owned enterprise that provided grain storage and handling services to farmers in Saskatchewan, Canada between 1911 and 1926, when its assets were purchased by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
The Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company (AFCEC) was a farmer-owned enterprise that provided grain storage and handling services to farmers in Alberta, Canada between 1913 and 1917, when it was merged with the Manitoba-based Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) to form the United Grain Growers (UGG).