CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — 农家乐 已完成对阿根廷 24 个零售农场中心和一家位于卡西尔达的世界级作物保护配方设施的收购 杜邦作物保护, Agrium 在新闻稿中宣布。 Agrium 预计零售农场中心的年收入约为 $57 百万。位于卡西尔达的工厂为阿根廷市场生产一系列除草剂、杀虫剂和杀菌剂，并提供通行费
为第三方公司制造。 Agrium 现在在南美共有 56 个零售农场中心，隶属于 Agroservicios Pampeanos（ASP） 姓名。
Sergio F. Rodriguez，业务总监， 杜邦农业解决方案 南锥体，告诉 FCI that DuPont Crop Protection “entered into this agreement to strengthen and intensify its market presence and core operations in Argentina, and to put more focus and energy into the exciting new product launches emerging from our robust pipeline. The ultimate goal is to maximize our share in the market based on speeding up rollouts of new molecules for Argentinean agribusiness.”
According to Todd Coakwell, manager, investor relations for Agrium, the retail centers will continue to carry DuPont products, as well as Agrium’s Loveland line of crop protection products. “You’re not looking at a total change in the products in those retail centers; we’re buying an existing client base, and they’re used to seeing certain products there,” Coakwell told FCI. “Because we have a relationship with DuPont, we’ll pretty much be selling the same products that existed there before and bring in some of the Loveland product as well.” The situation is the same for the formulation facility, says Coakwell. “There will be DuPont product going through the toll manufacturing there. We probably will look into the future to be producing some of the Loveland products through the Casilda formulation facility.”
DuPont plans to use the agreement to continue to grow in the region. “Our long-term strategy is to intensify our presence and core operations in Argentina by offering crop protection products, seed offerings and other services through the combined DuPont Soluciones Integradas al Productor (SIP) and Agrium Agroservicios Pampeanos (ASP) retail networks,” Rodriguez says. “In addition, we will continue to do business through other trusted distribution partners in Argentina, which will allow us to have the best presence and geographic coverage we’ve ever had in the country. Transferring the Casilda plant to Agrium provides DuPont with the benefit of continued access to production in Argentina while allowing its strategic retail distribution partner, ASP, to establish its own production capabilities. This strategy allows both companies to increase their presence and ability to serve agricultural customers in Argentina.”
Agrium also has a long-term strategy for continuing to branch out into South America. “Our leadership has been very clear that they definitely are looking for other retail acquisitions, definitely within North America but definitely in South America as well,” Coakwell says. “We’ve shown that, obviously, here in Argentina and we do have some retail centers in Uruguay and Chile as well. We’ll continue to look at other areas such as Chile and Uruguay and potentially any of the other large ones. Brazil is a possibility. It’s as we grow more of a scale there, it’s easier for us to branch out from Argentina.”