Shares of Bunge Ltd rose to a 22 month peak May 24 after merger overtures by Glencore Plc.’s agriculture unit, which owns Viterra in Canada, whetted investors’ appetite for consolidation in the commodities sector.
News that Glencore Agriculture Ltd., jointly owned by Glencore and two Canadian pension funds, approached Bunge sparked the U.S. agribusiness’s sharpest rally in more than eight years.
A deal with Bunge could transform Glencore into a major force in the U.S. agriculture sector and would make the Swiss company’s Canadian joint venture the latest foreign entity to own of a piece of the U.S. food chain.
