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Tag: Olam

  • Olam secures bulk of regulatory approvals for stake sale in Olam Agri

    Olam secures bulk of regulatory approvals for stake sale in Olam Agri

    Olam Group has secured regulatory approvals in most jurisdictions for its proposed sale of a 44.58 per cent stake in Olam Agri Holdings to Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), bringing the transaction closer to completion.

     The company said it has obtained approvals from all but two jurisdictions, noting that the deal remains subject to the fulfillment of outstanding conditions, including final regulatory clearances. Olam Agri Nigeria Limited, a major subsidiary of Olam Agri, is part of the global Olam Group’s extensive agribusiness operations.

     The update comes almost a year after Olam Group and Olam Agri entered into the $1.8 billion agreement with SALIC in February 2025. In a filing before the market opened, Olam said completion of the proposed sale would occur “as soon as practicable upon the satisfaction of all the conditions.”

     “Olam intends to complete the proposed sale as soon as practicable upon the satisfaction of all the conditions,” the Group’s Co-founder / Chief Executive Officer, Sunny Verghese, said in the bourse filing, while urging investors to “exercise caution” when trading, as the transaction is not yet guaranteed.

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     Under the agreement announced in February 2025, Olam plans to dispose of all its remaining shareholdings in Olam Agri in two tranches. The first tranche involves the sale of 44.58 per cent, or about 1.5 billion ordinary shares, to SALIC for approximately $1.8 billion. The transaction implies an equity valuation of about $4 billion for the entire Olam Agri business.

    The first tranche is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025 and would increase SALIC’s ownership in Olam Agri to 80.01 per cent from about 35.43 per cent currently. Within three years of the completion of this first tranche, Olam will sell its remaining 19.99 per cent stake through a call and put option arrangement.

    As part of its latest financial update, Olam declared an interim dividend of S$0.02 per share, down from S$0.03 per share in the corresponding period a year earlier.

    The group also reported that first-half profit from continuing operations surged by 574 per cent to S$323.8 million, as the business swung back into profitability.

    Regulatory momentum around the deal has gathered pace. The Competition Commission of India has approved SALIC’s proposed indirect acquisition of 44.58 per cent, and up to 64.57 per cent, of the issued share capital of Olam Agri Holdings Limited. The European Commission has also authorised SALIC to acquire sole control of Olam Agri under the EU Merger Regulation, following its agreement to purchase an 80.01 per cent stake for about US$1.78 billion.

    SALIC, a joint stock company incorporated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and wholly owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund, said the investment would strengthen its role in global commodity supply chains and support its mission to bolster global food security.

    The company has investments across farming, procurement and the trading of food commodities, with existing operations in India through LT Foods Limited.

    Olam International Limited operates across the agricultural value chain in 65 countries, including Nigeria. Olam Agri, which is incorporated and headquartered in Singapore, functions primarily as a global merchant and processor of agricultural goods, with activities spanning the entire value chain.

    Beyond the Olam Agri transaction, the group has said it intends to focus on an initial public offering of its other food ingredients business, Olam Food Ingredients (ofi), which was created in early 2020 and accounted for nearly 40 per cent of Olam’s total revenue in the 2024 financial year.

  • Olam suspends commodities’ purchase to boost food security

    Olam suspends commodities’ purchase to boost food security

    Olam Agri in Nigeria has temporarily suspended purchase of maize and sorghum to allow it monitor market trends, adjust to market realities and boost food security.

    In a statement, the firm, which provides differentiated food, feed, and fibre products, said it recognises the challenges of food insecurity.

    It said: “As a major buyer and processor of food staples, we share concerns around the high prices and supply chain disruptions affecting availability of essential grains. In response, we are collaborating with industry peers and government to identify and implement solutions to alleviate stress on food availability. As part of our approach, Olam temporarily suspends procurement of maize and sorghum which will allow us to monitor market trends and adjust to market realities”.

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    “During this period, our commitment to contribute to local food production remains unwavering as we will ensure uninterrupted distribution of food supplies. Our practice of sourcing essential grains from local farmers has supported livelihoods and met demand for critical nutrients in daily diets”.

    “We are steadfast in our commitment to driving sustainable socio-economic development and food security in Nigeria. We are committed and will continue to work closely with authorities to contribute to stabilising the current market challenges”.

  • OLAM debunks forex fraud

    OLAM debunks forex fraud

    Olam Group (OLAG.SI) has debunked the allegation that its units in the African country were involved in over $50 billion dollar foreign exchange fraud.

    It will be recalled that two dailies, not The Nation reported that Nigeria’s secret police was investigating the company’s units Olam Nigeria and Olam International and their associate firms for a more than $50 billion foreign exchange fraud.

    A statement issued by the company said the allegation was baseless given that both figures are several times more than the company’s total turnover over the last seven years.

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    “Based on the Olam Group’s audited financial statements, which are publicly available, the Olam Group’s cumulative turnover in Nigeria (including all export, import and domestic sales) for finanacial year 2015 to financial year 2022 was US$14 billion in total, and for the same eight-year period, the value of capital importations (via Certificates of Capital Importations) for the entire Olam Group in Nigeria was US$2.4 billion in total.”

    “The references in the news articles to “$50 billion” and the sum of $34 billion “funneled… under… capital importation” by Olam are thus manifestly inaccurate and designed to be misleading,” the press release said.

    The firm also noted that Olam Nigeria has responded to various legitimate requests for information by the relevant Nigerian authorities, and will cooperate with any legitimate requests for information or assistance from relevant Nigerian authorities.

    The statement stated further that Olam has an outstanding track record in Nigeria, having invested millions of dollars in the agriculture sector to create wealth that is shared by thousands of people across the country.

  • Olam okays N130 billion for Dangote Flour

    Olam International Ltd. has made a cash bid of N130 billion ($362 million) to buy Dangote Flour Mills Plc  as the Singapore-based agriculture trader looks to expand in West Africa as part of a rejig of its portfolio.

    Dangote Flour Mills is part of the business empire of Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. The price was calculated on a debt-free basis, and will be adjusted to account for net borrowings, it said in a statement yesterday.

    The move sees Olam going back to its roots. The company was founded in Nigeria as an exporter of cashew nuts 30 years ago, and has since grown into a global behemoth with operations in more than 60 countries and a market value of $4.5 billion. The deal will enable it to build on a country workforce of almost 3,000, while tapping local demand for bakery, snacks and pasta products.

    “We are confident about the growth prospects in this country and this acquisition, doubling our installed capacity here, is evidence of our long-term commitment to the Nigerian economy,” K.C. Suresh, head of Olam’s grains and animal feed division, said in an emailed statement.

    The acquisition is also part of a strategic shift toward areas that offer the most demand, including flour milling in West Africa. Nuts, cotton and tropical spice.

     

  • Olam supports 10,000 cocoa farmers

    Olam Nigeria, one of the world’s largest buyer of agro commodities, has  trained 10,000  farmers  and  supported them with  seedlings to replace the current aging trees.

    Vice President & Head Corporate and Government Relations, Olam Nigeria, Ade Adefeko, explained that I0,000 farmers  were trained in good agricultural practices (GAP) across 200 cocoa growing communities in three states,while 185, 399 cocoa seedlings were distributed.

    He said his organisation’s  assistance is aimed at removing difficulties in cocoa planting. As part of  Olam Livelihood Charter (OLC) to invest in the rural communities of emerging countries across the world, he said, 10 borehole projects were provided last year to supply clean drinking water to rural communities previously relying on streams.

    On rice, he said, his organisation has created direct linkages between it and the farming community from seeding till purchase of paddy at collection centres, adding that the rice was bought at a competitive price from the farmers.

    Last year, he said 4077 farmers were mobilised during the wet season in Nasarawa State alone.

    On cashew, Adefeko said 5000 farmers received GAP training while it partnered Techno serve to trained 5000 farmers.

    To boost sesame production,  he said seeds were distributed to  10000 farmers, while 1800 sesame farmers participated  in GAP training. The farmers, he added,  benefitted from credit facilities for inputs such as fertilisers, sickles and sieves.

    He said his organisation  is  providing  high quality seeds (675 Hectares) to small holding rice farmers to discourage the use of grains as seeds year after year, which lead to yield and quality depression over successive generations.

  • Olam rewards over 12,000 Nigerian farmers

    The results of the Olam Livelihood Charter (OLC) in Nigeria have been announced by global agri-business Olam International. The OLC is a flagship programme to support smallholder communities across the globe, reaching 344,466 farmers in 17 countries in 2015.

    The programme aims to bring prosperity to farming and rural communities, build long-term relationships based on fairness and trust, and transfer skills and knowledge through partnerships. The OLC now embraces 12,275 famers in Nigeria across rice, cocoa and sesame crops.

    The OLC is based on the principle that supporting smallholders with agri-training and seeds or fertiliser is not enough. Initiatives must be holistic in approach and tackle wider social, economic and environmental challenges to achieve mutually beneficial impacts in the long-term.

    “Olam is committed to helping Nigerian agriculture to thrive and that means supporting as many farmers as we can with training and social investment,” explains Ade Adefeko; Vice President and Head Corporate & Government Relations, Olam Nigeria

    Expatiating, Adefeko said: “Everyone stands to benefit from getting it right, it is then, the economy grows and food security in Nigeria is enhanced. Meanwhile we at Olam can grow our business and provide our customers with consistent volumes of traceable, sustainable products.”

  • Olam Nigeria wins LCCI’s most impactful investment award

    Plam in Nigeria has won an award for the most impactful investment in Agriculture at the annual Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries’ (LCCI) Awards 2016, held at Muson Centre, Lagos recently.

    The company’s two strategic investments in acquisition (food processing) and start-ups in animal feeds/poultry production respectively played a major role in their clinching the award. Specifically, Olam invested 275 million in the acquisition of BUA pasta and flour plant in Lagos, and 150 million dollars in animal feeds and poultry in Kaduna and Kwara States totaling 425 million dollars within the period.

    Receiving the award on behalf of his company, Ade Adefeko, Head Corporate and Government Relations, Olam Nigeria, thanked the LCCI for recognising the company’s investment in Nigeria at this critical time when oil prices have plummeted thereby leading to dwindling fortunes in the national economy.

    “I like to register our gratitude to the LCCI for this recognition. We have taken these strategic steps because we are convinced at Olam Nigeria that the only way to turn around Nigeria’s dwindling economy is to boost the non-oil sectors, particularly agriculture, Adefeko said.

    He reiterated Olam’s renewed commitment to Nigeria’s long term food security as well as economic prosperity.

  • Olam invests $275m in wheat, pasta milling

    Olam Nigeria has announced plans to produce wheat and pasta in Nigeria with an investment about $275 million.

    The company’s Singapore-based holding company, Olam International Limited has acquired Amber Foods Limited, which through its 100 per cent owned subsidiary, Quintessential Foods Nigeria Limited, owns the wheat milling and pasta manufacturing assets of the BUA Group in Nigeria, for a total enterprise value of $275 million.

    According to the firm, the new enterprise is estimated at $275 million and hopes to leverage on BUA Group, a diversified foods and infrastructure business group in Nigerian, to actualise the ambition.

    The group is among the top five wheat millers in the country with wheat milling and pasta manufacturing capacities of 3,760 and 700 metric tonnes per day (TPD) respectively.

    The assets to be acquired include two wheat mills and a pasta manufacturing facility in Lagos, a mill in Kano, and a wheat mill and a pasta manufacturing plant under construction in Port Harcourt.

    The company said the wheat milling sector in sub-Saharan Africa has been an area of investment focus for Olam since 2010 when it acquired Crown Flour Mills (CFM) in Nigeria.

    Since then, Olam has expanded Crown Flour Mills capacity and set up milling operations in Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon.

    The acquisition is expected to strengthen Crown Flour Mill’s position as the number two wheat miller by sales volume and make it a leading pasta player in Nigeria.

    Following the acquisition, Crow Flour Mill’s total wheat milling capacity in the country is expected to increase from its current 2,380 TPD to 6,140 TPD once the facilities in Port Harcourt are completed in June 2016, the company said.

    Speaking on the development, Country Head, Olam Nigeria, Mukul Mathur, said: “We are confident about the growth prospects in Nigeria, so expanding our participation here is a logical step to capitalise on the opportunity. Our value-added export business in the country puts us in a strong position to generate the much required foreign exchange and actively support the produce-add-value-export (PAVE) initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

  • Olam diversifies into animal feed business

    Olam International Limited has announced that its grains platform plans to expand into animal feed and related businesses in Nigeria.

    According to its Head, Corporate and Government Relations, Ade Adefeko, the expansion involves investments in setting up poultry and fish feed mills as well as hatcheries to produce day-old-chicks. “These investments are consistent with Olam’s strategy to selectively invest in prioritised platforms, which includes the grains platform,” he said.

    He further highlighted that “the global animal feed industry is a large and growing part of the agri-commodity complex with attractive returns and a strong growth outlook, particularly in emerging markets’’.

    He said after a detailed study of the sector, the company has chosen Nigeria as its preferred entry market as it ranks favourably on the country selection criteria, which include meat consumption per capita, degree of fragmentation, extent of vertical integration and of commercial feed penetration, scalability potential as well as supply and demand factors impacting the feed raw material trade.

    On the firm’s focus on the Nigerian market, he said: “In Nigeria, increasing urbanisation and a change in consumer preference towards more protein-rich diets is driving a strong demand for poultry and aquaculture products and the commercial feed market is expected to grow at over 10 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the next five years.”

    The investment is expected to build on Olam’s existing strengths in origination, which in the words of Adefeko “include extracting raw material cost efficiencies, sharing of port infrastructure, sourcing arbitrage, trading, ocean freight and risk management. The company has deep expertise and execution capabilities in Nigeria where it has been successful in executing cost-competitive projects, both brown field and green field, and operating them at world class efficiency levels. For example, Olam has a profitable and growing wheat milling business.”

    Olam will leverage its local procurement network to source a majority of other inputs required for producing poultry and fish feed. This will reduce import dependence, benefit local farming communities and generate youth employment, which are key priorities for the Nigerian economy today.

    There is optimism that the investment will also contribute to the development of the Nigerian poultry and aquaculture sectors by providing competitively priced inputs and technical support to local poultry and fish farmers, thereby improving productivity and returns for the sector.

  • ‘Olam is largest investor in local rice production’

    Olam Nigeria has made substantial investment in agriculture, thus earning the status of one of the leading local rice produceras in the country, its Head, Corporate and Government Relations, Ade Adefeko, has said.

    Adeleko, who spoke at the just Kano Trade Fair, said Olam’s Nigerian rice brand – Mama’s Pride and Chef’s Choice, dominating the one day event. The brands were so well received that they sold over 125 bags at the one-day fair, he added.

    On his impression of the fair, Adefeko said: ‘We are pleased with the outcome of the fair. We call for more of such activities to help boost rice production, increase awareness and improve patronage of Nigerian brands of rice.’

    On the acceptance of his company’s brand of locally produced rice brands, Adeleke  said: ‘‘as per our brands, generally, people love Mama’s Pride because of its packaging, grain length and brightness.’’

    The organisers of the event expresed joy with the outcome of the event, particularly the active participation of local players led by Olam Nigeria. The primary organiser, represented by Team Leader, Growth and Employment in States Program, Tunde Oderinde, said ‘Olam Nigeria has reinforced its position as the biggest local rice player in the country, with an investment outlay in billions of naira as it has the most coordinated and attractive stand at the trade fair. The outcome of the fair gives hope for local rice production and packaging because there is noticeable enthusiasm both from farmers, millers and consumers.’

    Similarly, the Managing Director/CEO, Bank of Industry, Rasheed Olaoluwa who graced the event as Special Guest, observed that the quality of the fair is remarkable, given that the local rice industry is yet at a developmental stage.

    He noted that the firm commitment of conglomerates like Olam Nigeria to the development of the rice industry in Nigeria is encouraging. ‘From what Olam Nigeria demonstrated at this fair, the level and quality of investment made by the company is an indicator that Nigeria can look to the future with optimism as far as the rice industry is concerned,’ he said.

    Oderinde’s and Olaoluwa’s observations indicate that investment in the rice segment, led by Olam is not going unnoticed, while the enthusiasm that greeted the local rice brands of Olam affirmed the huge market for local rice brands if the quality is good.

    On his company’s impressive showing at the fair, Adefeko said that ‘these giant strides are possible because Olam Nigeria has made huge investments in agriculture, particularly in local rice production.

    We have a 19 billion naira 10,000 hectare farm and mechanized mill with a capacity to produce 36,000 metric tonnes of milled rice in Rukubi Nasarawa State and outgrower programme which currently employs about 3,000 farmers.’

    He assured that his company will continue to support more farmers with training, pre-finance and agri-inputs to improve their paddy yield. ‘Our target is about 16,000 farmers by 2018 so as to sustain our leadership status in the rice value chain sphere,’ Adefeko said.

    Olam Nigeria is living up to its industry leader status as it was the only company who provided free samples in zip bags and hence made it easy for consumers to see and feel the grains at the fair.