ADM completes acquisition of Poland-based Elstar Oils, which operates rapeseed crushing, refining plant, biodiesel production facility

Andrew Rogers

DECATUR, Illinois , December 15, 2011 (press release) – Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) announced today that the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has approved the purchase of Elstar Oils S.A., by Archer Daniels Midland Nederland B.V., giving ADM operational control of the company. Additionally, yesterday Archer Daniels Midland Nederland B.V. acquired the remaining 2.26 percent of Elstar Oils shares, and now owns 100 percent of this company.

“Achieving operational control of Elstar Oils is an important step in ADM’s strategy to acquire and consolidate existing oilseed processing, food manufacturing and biodiesel capabilities in this growing origination and consumer market,” said Brent Fenton, president, ADM Europe. “Elstar’s facilities are ideally located to complement and expand our ownership in the Eastern Europe region.”

Elstar, located in northern Poland, operates a rapeseed crushing, refining, solid-fat packaging and oil bottling facility in Czernin and a fully-automated biodiesel facility in Malbork.

On August 13, ADM announced the signing of an agreement to purchase a majority share of Elstar. The company launched the public tender offer for all the shares of Elstar on August 16. ADM plans to delist Elstar from the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Antitrust authorities in Austria, Germany, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine have also approved the sale.

ADM’s other operations in Poland include an oilseeds crushing and refining facility in Szamotuly that refines and bottles retail vegetable oils; country elevators in Slawa Wielkopolska and Chroscin; an import and export terminal owned as part of a joint venture in the port of Gdynia, where a new grain warehouse to expand capacity is planned; and a joint venture with Princes to expand the distribution of bottled vegetable oils.

About ADM
For more than a century, the people of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) have transformed crops into products that serve vital needs. Today, 30,000 ADM employees around the globe convert oilseeds, corn, wheat and cocoa into products for food, animal feed, chemical and energy uses. With more than 265 processing plants, 400 crop procurement facilities, and the world’s premier crop transportation network, ADM helps connect the harvest to the home in more than 160 countries.

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