Cargill, Copersucar Form Global Sugar Joint Venture

GENEVA and SAO PAULO—Cargill and Copersucar are combining their global sugar trading activities into a new 50/50 joint venture that will originate, commercialize and trade raw and white sugar. The joint venture will build on build on both companies capabilities of increasing the efficiency, quality and services in the sugar supply chain, as well as leveraging an in-depth understanding of the worldwide market to the benefit of its customers.

The new company will be an independent joint venture of its two parent companies, Copersucar and Cargill, with a new name to be announced at closing around the second half of 2014. The trading activities will be based out of Geneva, and the joint venture will have offices in Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Miami, Delhi, Moscow, Jakarta, Shanghai, Bangkok and Dubai.

Ivo Sarjanovic, who currently leads Cargill’s sugar business, will be appointed chief executive officer once the new company is formed. Soren Hoed Jensen, current sugar & ethanol sales executive director of Copersucar, will become the joint venture’s chief operating officer, and Stefano Tonti, currently financial controller of Cargill’s global trading and sugar businesses, will become the new joint venture’s CFO. Luis Roberto Pogetti, Chairman of Copersucar, will become the first rotating chairman of the new joint venture.

Both companies’ combined global supply chain will allow the new joint venture to seamlessly move a wide range of sugar qualities and different origins from port to destination in a timely and efficient manner, meeting the specific requirements of customers worldwide. The new joint venture will benefit from a global footprint as well as large-scale supply of Copersucar’s partner mills in Brazil, complemented by Thai, Indian, Central American and Australian origins. It also will benefit from the companies’ proven track-record in logistics management and access to the elevation terminals in Brazil.

Both companies’ ethanol businesses and fixed assets, such as terminals and mills, are excluded from the transaction. Those activities will remain separate business, individually owned by Cargill and Copersucar.