ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, US – Mexico’s largest flour miller Grupo Trimex has reached an agreement to acquire seven Mexico wheat flour mills from Bunge Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.
The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
The plants are located in Campeche, Mexico City, Acapulco, Guadalupe, Queretaro, Navojoa and Veracruz.
The move continues a recent trend by Bunge to optimize its portfolio to focus on core businesses, which has been a priority of Greg Heckman, chief executive officer, since he joined the company in 2019.
“Bunge is most effective when we operate our value chains end-to-end, collaborating closely with our farmers and customers,” Heckman said. “The wheat milling business in Mexico is not fully integrated in the way that is critical to successfully serving our customers in line with our long-term sustainable and strategic goals.
“We believe selling the business to a well-respected wheat miller will provide a great opportunity for our employees as well as our customers.”
Bunge, which has focused on bolstering its oilseeds platform and expanding into complementary businesses during Heckman’s tenure, said it will continue to serve its oil and meal customers in Mexico and will continue to operate its corn mill in Querétaro.
In the past two years, Bunge has sold 35 US grain elevators to Zen-Noh Grain Corp., ended its stake in Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy, LLC, and sold its rice mill in California to Farmers’ Rice Cooperative.
Although it has divested its Mexico flour milling operations, Bunge still operates seven wheat flour mills in Brazil.
Grupo Trimex, meanwhile, expands its leading market share in wheat flour milling. It now will have 20 flour mills in Mexico that grind three types of wheat — hard, soft and durum.
Founded in 1995 with the merger of four wheat mills in Mexico City, Grupo Trimex began acquiring Mexican mills over the next 20 years, including the acquisition of the wheat flour milling operations of Gruma in 2014.
