Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises COFCO International on acquisition of full ownership of Nidera

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance advised COFCO International on the acquisition of the remaining minority interest that it does not own in Nidera Capital B.V., a major international agribusiness and trading company headquartered in the Netherlands, bringing COFCO International's ownership in Nidera to 100%. The original controlling interest was acquired by COFCO in 2014, on which Clifford Chance also advised. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

The transaction was led by Co-Managing Partner of China Terence Foo, who was assisted in Beijing by senior associate Janet Jiang and in Amsterdam by partners David Griston and Dirk Jan Duynstee and associates Joel Erwteman and Liesbeth Snoeijer. Partner Richard Blewett and counsel Yong Bai and Amelia Horvath advised on antitrust aspects. Partner Anthony Wang and associate James Tong advised on financing matters.

"It has been an honour to advise COFCO on a series of transformative transactions which will position it as one of the top players in the global agribusiness industry," said Terence.

Terence also led the team which advised COFCO International on its acquisition of 51% of Noble Agri Limited, from Noble Group in 2014, and subsequently its acquisition of the remaining 49% earlier this year. Noble Agri has since been renamed as COFCO Agri.

The full acquisition of Nidera allows COFCO International to grow and consolidate its international agribusinesses into a world-class, integrated global platform consisting of Nidera and COFCO Agri.

COFCO International is the overseas investment and management platform for the agribusinesses of COFCO, with its upstream origination and trading operations linked to the downstream processing and distribution capabilities of COFCO and its affiliates in China to create a fully integrated value chain, consistent with COFCO’s strategy. COFCO International is the parent company of both COFCO Agri and Nidera. COFCO International actively manages and oversees the operation and compliance of the two subsidiaries via its own management team.

Nidera is a major international agribusiness and trading company with annual turnover of US$18.5 billion in 2015. Nidera was founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1920. Currently, Nidera has domestic and international operations in 19 major export and import countries and distributes its products to more than 60 countries in the world.