Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises COFCO on CIC's investment in COFCO's international agribusiness platform

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised COFCO on the subscription of 19.9% stake in COFCO International Holdings Limited by China Investment Corporation (CIC).

COFCO International Holdings Limited controls COFCO's investment holding in Noble Agri and Nidera. COFCO is the largest grain, oilseeds and foodstuff company in China and a Fortune 500 company.

Last year, Clifford Chance advised COFCO on two concurrent global acquisitions, being the US$1.5 billion acquisition of 51% of Noble Agri and US$1.3 billion acquisition of 51% of Nidera, both of which are global agribusiness and trading companies. The two acquisitions have helped COFCO transform into an integrated global agri-food company by giving it an international platform to source agricultural commodities from overseas. As part of last year's acquisitions, COFCO established a consortium called COFCO International Limited which included HOPU, Temasek, IFC and Standard Chartered Private Equity as investors to complete the acquisitions of Noble Agri and Nidera. 

"We are pleased to once again help COFCO build upon the successful acquisitions of Noble Agri and Nidera by bringing on CIC as a strategic investor," said Beijing Corporate partner Terence Foo who led the team advising COFCO. Terence was assisted by counsel Hong Zhang and associate Adam Wang.