Nutrien Buys Brazil’s Tec Agro
Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien has agreed to buy Brazil’s Tec Agro Group for an undisclosed sum.
Tec Agro is a leading agricultural retailer in Goiás, with eight outlets and also owns the Sementes Goiás brand, regarded as one of the largest branded soybean seeds businesses in Brazil. The company has annual sales of approximately $200 million and about 500 employees.
“The Tec Agro acquisition is an excellent strategic fit and, following the Agrosema transaction announced in January, is a great next step in building our platform in the important and growing Brazilian agricultural market,” said Nutrien’s president and CEO Chuck Magro.
Nutrien announced in January that it had agreed to buy Agrosoema Comercial Agricola, another Brazilian agricultural retailer. Headquartered in Indaiatuba, São Paulo, Agrosema has annual sales of approximately $60 million across 12 farm centers with about 200 employees.
Once the Tec Agro acquisition closes, Nutrien Ag Solutions will operate 25 retail outlets in São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Goiás. It will also own and operate two fertilizer blending facilities, a premier soybean seed business and the Agrichem business in Ribeirao Preto, São Paulo, which produces specialties and foliar fertilizers.
Magro said Nutrien expects to continue expanding in Brazil in the coming years, both through acquisition and growing its product and service offerings.
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based producer was formed on Jan. 1, 2018 through the merger of Canadian fertilizer giants PotashCorp and Agrium. Nutrien said it is the world’s largest supplier of crop inputs and services, producing 25 million t/y of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products.
