Saudi agri vehicle and Bunge JV forms Canadian platform

G3 Global Grain Group (G3), a joint venture between Saudi agri vehicle SALIC Canada and agribusiness giant Bunge Canada, has bought a majority interest in Canadian grain marketer CWB (formerly the Canadian Wheat Board), and will combine it with Bunge Canada’s grain assets to form a new Canadian agribusiness – G3 Canada.

Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Canada Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of SALIC, which was set up in 2011 to meet Saudi Arabia’s food needs and combat food poverty by investing abroad. SALIC invested C$250 million ($190 million; €173 million) in the JV.

G3 said in April it would invest C$250 million to purchase a 50.1 percent stake in CWB. The remaining 49.9 percent is held in a trust that will work to benefit the farmers. That transaction has now closed.

“Canada is poised to play an increasing role in providing food to a growing world population and in capturing a larger share of the international market demand,” says Abdullah Al-Rubaian, Chairman, SALIC. “SALIC is committed to infrastructure investment in countries such as Canada, which are exporters of surplus supplies of high quality grain.”

SALIC Canada pursues opportunities in countries that are surplus producers of commodities like wheat, barley, corn, soybean, rice, sugar, edible oils, green fodder or red meat, according to its website.

The new company now owns seven grain elevators in Western Canada, four grain elevators in Québec, port terminals in Québec City, Québec; Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Trois-Rivières, Québec, two Great Lake grain transport ships, nearly 200 kilometres of short-line rail track in Saskatchewan and SML Stevedoring Services at Les Élévateurs des Trois-Rivières. G3 Canada  also owns four grain handling facilities being built in Bloom and St Adolphe, Manitoba, and Colonsay and Pasqua, Saskatchewan, as well as one of Canada’s largest private fleets of grain hopper cars.