Canadian government to review proposed Bunge-Viterra merger -transport minister

OTTAWA (Reuters) -The Canadian government will review a planned merger between U.S. grains merchant Bunge and Glencore-backed Viterra, the transport minister said in a statement on Tuesday.

As part of the review, the transport ministry will launch a public interest assessment of the proposed acquisition, which must be completed by June 2, 2024, Canada's Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez said in a statement.

“Both companies hold ownership interests in port terminals throughout our country. Healthy competition in the transportation sector is necessary to ensure fair pricing and access for users, especially for Canadian farmers," Rodriguez said.

A Bunge spokesperson said the company looked forward to working with Rodriguez and the team at Transport Canada to show any impact the merger would have on transportation would be beneficial to Canada.

"Our expectation that the transaction will close in mid-2024 remains unchanged," the spokesperson added.

Canada’s Competition Bureau said in June it would review the merger, which would create an agricultural trading giant worth about $34 billion, including debt.

The deal would bring the combined company closer in scale to leading rivals Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill.

The merger would also expand Bunge's physical grain storage and handling capacity in major wheat exporter Australia.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Karl Plume, Seher Dareen and Jyoti Narayan; Editing by Chris Reese, Pooja Desai and Jamie Freed)