La Coop federee agrees to sell some of Cargill’s Ontario retail locations
The pending sale does not include the Winnipeg-based company's export terminal in Sarnia or the AgResource crops wholesale business
OTTAWA—The Competition Bureau says Quebec-based agri-food co-operative La Coop federee has agreed to sell several Cargill retail locations in Ontario as part of an agreement related to its purchase of some of Cargill’s grain and crop input assets, including its stake in South West Ag Partners.
The co-operative will sell locations in Alliston, Harrow, Tilbury, and Waterford to a purchaser acceptable to the commissioner.
The bureau says the agreement will preserve competition in specific areas of Ontario where the co-op and Cargill own competing crop input retail locations.
The bureau had in its review concluded that in some areas the proposed transaction would “substantially lessen competition in the retailing of crop inputs, and specifically fertilizers and crop protection products.”
The transaction announced in March involves grain and retail assets along with Cargill’s 50 per cent share of South West Ag Partners, a joint venture which includes nine grain and crop inputs facilities in Ontario.
However, the pending sale does not include the Winnipeg-based company’s export terminal in Sarnia or the AgResource crops wholesale business.
