Soybeans
 

LONDON — The European Commission on Feb. 7 approved Bunge’s acquisition of two Cargill oilseed processing facilities.

The two Cargill oilseed facilities are an oilseed crushing and seed oil refining facility located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and an oilseed crushing and storage facility located in Brest, France.

The commission concluded that the proposed acquisition “would raise no competition concerns because of the presence of several alternative competitors in the soybean meal and oil markets, including importers.”

Bunge first announced its intent to acquire the facilities in August 2016. At that time, Bunge said the assets are complementary to its existing soy processing operations in Europe and will allow the company to further expand its global oilseed processing footprint into key Northern European destinations, grow its presence in Europe’s protein market, and further optimize global flows and logistics to serve customers. Industrial operations and business activities will be integrated within Bunge’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional operations and global soy crush platform, the company said.

Meanwhile, Cargill at the time said it will retain its two other soybean processing facilities in Western Europe, in the ports of Barcelona in Spain and Liverpool in the U.K. The company has a network of plants processing and refining other oilseeds and tropical oils across Europe, and it continues to focus on serving its customers and growing its longer term business in this region.