Nidera Sementes Ltda was established in Brazil in 2005, the same year as it acquired Bayer Crop Sciences corn and soybean seed Brazilian operation.
News agencies are reporting that the issue is a $150 million hole related to pre-payment deals in which a trader pays for a commodity ahead of it being delivered. The sources for the information were not named, just identified as people close to the situation.
Nidera said it has informed its lenders and COFCO, which has gradually acquired ownership of Nidera, has underwritten the financial support required to ensure compliance with covenants. Nidera said the cause of the accounting issue is currently under investigation.
The review of the rest of the company has not led to the need for any material adjustments and is largely complete, Nidera said.
“We will continue to work on strengthening the controls and governance within the company going forward as part of the COFCO Group,” Nidera said.
COFCO purchased Nidera and the agricultural trading segment of Noble Group as part of its strategy to become one of the world’s top agriculture companies like Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Bunge. It plans to bring those companies together as COFCO Agri Ltd.
COFCO bought 51% of Nidera in 2014, and then announced in August that it would acquire the remaining minority stake in Nidera Capital B.V., bringing its ownership of Nidera to 100%.
Nidera is a major international agribusiness and trading company based in the Netherlands. COFCO International is the overseas investment and management platform for the agribusinesses of COFCO, with its upstream origination and trading operations linked to the downstream processing and distribution capabilities of COFCO and its affiliates in China to create a fully integrated value chain, consistent with COFCO’s strategy.
