ADM cancels a big acquisition

Article Excerpt

ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND CO. $46 (New York symbol ADM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 558.9 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.adm.com) processes corn, wheat, soybeans, flaxseed, peanuts and other crops to make a variety of food ingredients such as flour, oils and sweeteners. It’s also the largest U.S. maker of ethanol from corn. The company has ended talks to acquire Bunge Ltd. (New York symbol BG). Bunge is a leading processor of soybeans and oilseeds. It also makes vegetable oil. Archer Daniels could afford the roughly $15 billion it cost to buy Bunge. However, it felt that it could not overcome the high anti-trust hurdles—the merger would have reduce the number of major agricultural processing firms from four to three. Meantime, the company will focus on making smaller acquisitions of companies that make higher-margin foods. Those include last year’s purchase of Crosswind Industries, Inc., a Kansas private-label manufacturer of pet treats…