Rising grain prices fuel takeover scene
Scott Humphrey, head of the bank's U.S. mergers and acquisitions group, said: "The availability of credit today is certainly helping in general dealmaking activity across a number of sectors."
The case for consolidation is strong in the midmarket food and agribusiness sector.
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Hide AdPrices for grains are surging, helped by rising demand for grain-fed meat from the middle classes in India and China and crop production problems globally, including a drought in Russia.
US corn prices are near two-year highs even as the third-largest crop on record fails to meet demand from exporters, livestock feeders, foodmakers and ethanol firms.
Now players at all ends of the spectrum are positioning themselves for the agri-boom, a fact made plain with the now-stalled $39bn bid by the world's largest miner, BHP Billiton, to take over Canada's Potash Corp and gain control of a key crop nutrient.
Canada blocked the deal, highlighting the strategic importance of control of the global food supply chain.
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Hide AdCharles Adair, a vice chairman for BMO Capital Markets and a veteran of the food and agribusiness marketplace, said: "Food has got a particularly interesting fundamental dynamic that has been developing globally in terms of food availability.
"The expectation in the space is that it is going to stay that way for a while, and that has an impact on most business models. Some of them are winners and some of them are losers."