Bartlett to Buy Ceres Global Ag

MT. JULIET, Tenn. (DTN) -- Bartlett, a Savage company, announced plans to purchase Ceres Global Ag Corp. on Tuesday in a deal valued at approximately $140 million. Supply chain conglomerate Savage purchased Bartlett and Company, also known as Bartlett Grain, in 2018.

Ceres operates 10 agricultural, energy and industrial products facilities across Minnesota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and owns partnership interests in three agricultural joint partnerships in Minnesota and North Dakota.

The acquisition would extend Bartlett's procurement arm into Canada, creating a cohesive North American supply chain across Bartlett's existing U.S. and Mexico facilities, and would add 45 million bushels of grain and oilseed storage capacity.

"We see incredible potential in combining our networks and growing in new ways with the resources that Ceres brings to our portfolio," Savage President and CEO Jeff Roberts said in a news release. "With their great team and assets, we'll build on our robust supply chain for our current and new customers alike."

Bartlett will pay $4.50 per outstanding share of Ceres stock, and Ceres will become a private company after the sale closes, which is expected in the second or third quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

"Bartlett's acquisition of Ceres is vindication of the strategy we set out to achieve 12 years ago, which is to build the company into one of North America's leading merchandisers of durum, oats, spring wheat and canola," Ceres Chairman Jim Vanasek said in a news release. "I believe Bartlett is a perfect fit in terms of geography, business lines and culture and will take Ceres to the next level."

Ceres has a 50% interest in Savage Riverport LLC (a joint venture with Consolidated Grain and Barge Co.), a 50% interest in Berthold Farmers Elevator LLC (a joint venture with The Berthold Farmers Elevator Company), a 50% interest in Farmers Grain LLC (a joint venture with Farmer's Cooperative Grain and Seed Association), a 41.6% interest in Gateway Energy Terminal (an unincorporated joint venture with Steel Reef Infrastructure Corp.), and a 25% interest in Stewart Southern Railway Inc., a short-line railway located in southeast Saskatchewan with a range of 130 kilometers.

Bartlett, which operates 16 grain facilities and three flour mills in the U.S., also has four locations in Mexico. With historic roots in the Kansas City wheat markets and flour mills, Bartlett has expanded its portfolio to global grain and feedstock supplies as well as energy. In September, it completed construction on a 49-million-bushel soybean processing plant in Cherryvale, Kansas.

Katie Dehlinger can be reached at Katie.Dehlinger@dtn.com

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