Glencore said its long-term strategy could include selling parts of Bunge

Miner and trader Glencore said on Wednesday that its long-term strategy could include selling its 16.4 percent stake in Bunge Global’s expanded global agribusiness in the future, Reuters reported.

Glencore became the owner of the 16.4 percent stake after Bunge closed its long-awaited merger with Glencore-backed grain processor Viterra in July, two years after announcing the $34 billion mega-deal.

“The agribusiness is not necessarily a fit for our business model,” Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said on Wednesday during a press conference after the company released its first-half financial results. “Owning a 16.4 percent stake in Bunge is probably not going to be a good deal for Glencore in the long term.”

The Viterra merger strengthened the company’s grain export and oilseed crushing business in the U.S., analysts said, and expanded its export capabilities and presence in major wheat-supplier countries Canada and Australia. Glencore’s goal is to maximize the value of these investments, while any “exit from them at some stage in the future will be done very judiciously and carefully to ensure that value is preserved,” the CEO added.

Bunge’s profits fell to their lowest in seven years earlier.

Tags: Glencore, Bunge