Bunge and Wilmar to Form Joint Venture in Vietnam

White Plains / Singapore. (bl) Bunge Limited (NY) and Wilmar International Limited (SG) announced they are forming a joint venture in Vietnam to leverage both companies’ footprints in Asia.

Bunge will sell 45 percent of its equity in its Vietnam crush operations to Wilmar, creating a three-party joint venture with Bunge and Wilmar as equal 45 percent shareholders and Quang Dung – a leading soybean meal distributor in Vietnam and majority owner of Green Feed, a growing Vietnamese feed milling business – retaining its existing 10 percent stake in the operations.

The transaction establishes a strategic collaboration between three uniquely positioned leaders in the Vietnamese oil and feed markets, unlocking growth potential by connecting Bunge’s upstream crushing capabilities to Wilmar’s downstream oil refining and consumer products business, and to Green Feed’s feed milling and marketing activities. The joint venture creates integrated operations that are both a source and sales outlet for oil in Vietnam – one of the fastest-growing domestic edible oils markets in Asia – and that enable increased participation in the domestic feed milling industry.

«Bunge is excited to partner with Wilmar, the largest downstream edible oils player in Vietnam», said Soren Schroder, CEO, Bunge Limited. «The collaboration will create increased operating, marketing and logistics synergies across the Vietnam oils and soybean meal value chains, and help us remain a low-cost operator with the highest efficiency possible».

«Bunge is a natural partner for us. In Vietnam, it is the largest producer of soybean oil and Wilmar is a major buyer of soybean oil», said Kuok Khoon Hong, Chairman and CEO of Wilmar. «The soybean meal distribution capabilities of the joint venture also complement Wilmar’s animal feed ingredients business in Vietnam, including rice bran, wheat bran, palm kernel expeller, copra expeller, canola meal and feed oils».