BEIJING, CHINA — COFCO said on Oct. 15 that it has finalized its acquisition of 51% of Nidera, which was initially announced on Feb. 28.

COFCO is leading the investment consortium that includes Hopu Investment, Temasek, IFC, Standard and Chartered Private Equity. The cooperation is the largest ever international acquisition in the history of the Chinese agricultural industry.

The partnership provides Nidera with great potential for growth in the Chinese market. It also strengthens COFCO’s position as a key player in the global agricultural industry through access to Nidera’s global origination and trading network and its fast growing seed business, the companies said.

“This generates great growth opportunities. The Chinese and Asian markets are of great importance to Nidera,” said Ton van der Laan, chief executive officer (CEO) of Nidera. “We were looking for a strong partner to jointly invest in future growth and a strategic partnership with COFCO is an ideal choice for Nidera and will benefit both sides.”

“We’re happy to see the completion of the transaction,” said Patrick Yu, COFCO president. “Nidera enjoys an important global purchasing platform, trading network as well as a highly experienced management team. We are looking forward to working with Nidera to develop our companies, to contribute to the global market and to better serve our consumers. ”

According to Yu, COFCO and Nidera will share market information and promote Nidera’s seed business in China, which will promote the development of China’s domestic seed sector by upgrading the level of R&D and service in the domestic industry.

“In seizing this opportunity, COFCO is aiming to establish itself as a global player with a fully integrated value chain worldwide, and to contribute to the stability and development of the global market,” said Frank Ning, chairman of COFCO.

Nidera was founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1920, and has since developed into a major international agribusiness and trading company with an annual turnover in excess of $17 billion, trade volume over 52 million tonnes, origination purchase volume over 11 million tonnes and agri-technological product sales over 954,000 tonnes.

Soybean, wheat and corn are the major commodities traded by Nidera. With an advanced germplasm pool, Nidera has developed a close partnership with farmers through providing seed, fertilizer and farm chemicals. By December 2013, Nidera had 62 subsidiaries, and more than 3,700 employees in over 18 major exporting and importing countries.

As China's leading agricultural products and foodstuff company, COFCO, with its 60-year history and a fully-integrated value chain model, has built China's largest food logistics network by its wide coverage and nationwide layout of domestic storage and logistics nodes. It has also established all types of processing facilities in China’s key agricultural areas and sales area, with sales outlets penetrating China's cities and villages.