Agricore United TSX: AU.LV is a farmer-directed agri-business in Canada. Agri-business giant, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has a 23% stake in the company. It supplies crop nutrition and crop protection products, and offers grain handling and marketing services. It was created on November 1, 2001 by the merger of Agricore and United Grain Growers. It is headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its shares are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "AU" ("AU.LV" - Limited voting common shares; "AU.DB" - Convertible 9% debentures; "AU.PR.A" - Series ‘A’ preferred shares). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A public company usually refers to a company which is permitted to offer its securities (stock, bonds, etc. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: Template:Unhide = Unum Cum Virtute Multorum (One With the Strength of Many) Location City Information Established: 1738 (Fort Rouge), 1873 (City of Winnipeg) Area: 465. ... ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... A vice president is an officer in government or business who is next in rank below a president. ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Loonie. ... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A website (alternatively, Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on a Web server, usually accessible via the Internet or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP, a...

Grain Handling and Merchandising

Agricore buys, markets and transports grain, oil seeds and other special crops from the farm to end-use markets using the company’s network of grain elevators from Manitoba to British Columbia and ownership/interest in port terminals in Vancouver, Thunder Bay and Prince Rupert. The grain is moved from the farmer’s field to the company’s geographically dispersed and strategically located country elevator network. Grain is then shipped to a domestic, U.S. or Mexican customer, such as a flour mill, crushing plant, feed mill or maltster, or to a port terminal for export to end-use customers in Europe, South America, the Pacific Rim, Africa and the Middle East.

Crop Production Services

The company sells more crop inputs in western Canada than any other company. This includes manufacture, distribution and crop production support, including crop nutrition and crop protection products, seed and agronomic services to farmers, through about 200 locations from Manitoba to British Columbia. Agronomic Crop Enhancement (ACE) specialists provide technical advice on crop production issues and help the Customer Service Representative (CSR) advise the grower about choices for the most profitable crop practices. Beyond offering crop nutrition such as fertilizers, more than 200 crop protection products are offerred including herbicides and insecticides. Agricore owns or leases three distribution warehouses, and supports the sale of crop nutrition and protection products by providing custom application services directly or through third-party contractors.

Livestock

The company's livestock business formulates and manufactures feed for dairy and beef cattle, swine, poultry and other specialty feeds from seven HACCP certified feed mills, one HACCP certified pre-mix manufacturing centre and one HACCP compliant pre-mix manufacturing centre. The company has feed mills and pre-mix facilities service customers in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba, including two new feed mills constructed in Olds, AB (2000) and Edmonton, AB (2004).

History

Agricore United is the continuation of companies that have deep historical roots in western Canada. The Grain Growers' Grain Company Limited was originally incorporated in 1906 under the laws of Manitoba. In 1917, The Grain Growers' Grain Company Limited and The Alberta Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Company Limited amalgamated to form United Grain Growers Limited (UGG). In 1923, Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP) was incorporated under the laws of Alberta. In 1924, Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE) was incorporated under the laws of Manitoba. In 1992, UGG was continued under the Governing Act, a Special Act of the Parliament of Canada. In 1998 AWP and MPE merged to form Agricore Cooperative Limited. In 2001, UGG combined its business operations with Agricore Cooperative Ltd. and began doing business as Agricore United.

In November of 2006, the company became the target of takeover bids from two other rival grain handlers: the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool ("SaskPool", "SWP") of Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg-based James Richardson International ("JRI"). The initial and subsequent offers from SaskPool involved a stock swap, with no or little cash being offered, prompting the AU Board of Directors to reject them. In February of 2007, AU and JRI announced that they had negotiated a merger arrangement to form a publicly traded company to be known as "Richardson Agricore", subject to shareholder agreement. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which has made it the largest agricultural grain handling operation in the province of Saskatchewan. ... Nickname: The Queen City Motto: Floreat Regina (Let Regina Flourish) Location of Regina in the SE quadrant of Saskatchewan Coordinates: Country Canada Province Saskatchewan District Assiniboia Established 1882 Government  - City Mayor Pat Fiacco  - Governing body Regina City Council  - MPs Dave Batters Ralph Goodale Tom Lukiwski Andrew Scheer  - MLAs Joanne Crofford... Nickname: Motto: Unum Cum Virtute Multorum (One With the Strength of Many) Coordinates: Country Canada Province Manitoba Region Winnipeg Capital Region Established, 1738 (Fort Rouge) Renamed 1822 (Fort Garry) Incorporated 1873 (City of Winnipeg) Government  - City Mayor Sam Katz  - Governing Body Winnipeg City Council  - MPs List of MPs  - MLAs List...

A subsequent bidding war led to a stock+cash offer from SaskPool and an all-cash offer from JRI to form a private company^[1]; a higher all-cash offer from SaskPool in May eventually prevailed^[2], with 81% of the limited voting shares being tendered to the Pool by shareholders by the end of May, including all the ADM shares. This exceeded the 75% required by the terms of AU's incorporation to change the corporate structure and, after a special shareholders' meeting in June, AU became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool^[3]. AU's CEO, Brian Hayward, resigned, as did the Board of Directors, and SaskPool's CEO and Board were voted in.

As a result of the acceptance of the SaskPool offer, JRI received a $35 million termination fee and was able to purchase a number of AU's grain and farm supply facilities; Cargill Canada was able to make a similar purchase, as part of a pre-merger deal width SaskPool to satisfy Canada's Competition Bureau. Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation, and is based in the state of Minnesota in the United States. ...

References

External links

• Agricore United official site
• Official site