Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company now holds a 35.4% minority stake in Olam Agri after investing US$1.24 billion in the unit
OLAM Group’s remaining 64.57 per cent stake in its agribusiness unit may be sold off to a state-owned Saudi investment firm that already owns more than a third of Olam Agri.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg on Thursday (Oct 31) said Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company (Salic), a unit of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, was in advanced talks with the group.
While sources said there was no certainty the ongoing talks with Salic would lead to an agreement, the deal is estimated to place Olam Agri at a valuation of about US$4 billion.
They also told Bloomberg that Olam’s share sale preparations since last year, for its potential listing of the agribusiness unit in Singapore and Riyadh, had stalled.
The Business Times has reached out to Olam for comment on the matter.
Since it ceased trading as Olam International and re-listed as Olam Group in March 2022, the company has been working on plans to spin off its two business units, Olam Food Ingredients and Olam Agri.
Salic now holds a 35.4 per cent minority stake in Olam Agri after investing US$1.24 billion in the Olam unit. The deal was completed in December 2022 and was said to value Olam Agri at US$3.5 billion at the time.
In May 2023, Olam said its proposed initial public offering of Olam Agri – originally slated to be completed by H1 that year – would be delayed as the necessary regulatory approvals had yet to be obtained.
Shares of Olam were trading S$0.08 or 7.5 per cent higher at S$1.15 as at 10.19 am on Friday.
