Skip to main content

Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance

News and awards

Clifford Chance Advises Mitsui & Co. on investment in Belchim Crop Protection

13 December 2019

Clifford Chance Advises Mitsui & Co. on investment in Belchim Crop Protection

Clifford Chance has advised Mitsui & Co. on the acquisition of 62% of the shares of Belchim Crop Protection from the company's founding family, Belchim Management. Mitsui & Co., a Japanese general trading company, has agreed to acquire the shares through its wholly owned subsidiary, Mitsui AgriScience International (MASI), in two successive tranches. Upon fulfilment of antitrust approvals, MASI will first acquire 30% of the shares, making Belchim Crop Protection its consolidated subsidiary. The remaining 32% of the shares will be acquired around February 2021.

Belchim Crop Protection is a Belgian company that imports, exports, registers, and distributes crop protection products across Europe and Northern America. Mitsui & Co. has identified nutrition and agriculture as one of their key growth areas, making this acquisition a step in strengthening its agrochemical distribution platform.

The Clifford Chance team that advised Mitsui & Co. was composed of partners Xavier Remy, Natsuko Sugihara, and Richard Blewett, and also included Pieter de Bock, Masafumi Shikakura, Wim Aerts, Shunsuke Nagae, Nathan Tulkens, Pauline Riga, Phillippe Baert, and Sophie Deschuyter.

Please click here to read the press release of Mitsui & Co. in full.