ADM takes over cocoa assests

U.S. agrifood giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. this week took control of the cocoa assets of Sifca, Ivory Coast's last big locally controlled commodities exporter and processor. Sifca said on Tuesday said that it and ADM​ had signed an agreement on March 30 finalising the creation of the ADM-controlled cocoa exporter ADM Cocoa Sifca and ADM's takeover of the Unicao grinding plant. The creation of ADM Cocoa Sifca was announced in August 2000 but, apart from a relatively small advance sum, Sifca said that ADM only make the full payment last Friday.Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In a press release on Tuesday Sifca said that ADM holds an 80 per cent stake ADM Cocoa Sifca and Sifca the rest. ADM's stake in Unicao is henceforth 90 percent and Sifca's is 10 percent. The main assets of ADM Cocoa Sifca include a large pre-export cocoa bean conditioning plant and warehouse in Anyama, near Abidjan, and the Unico plant in San Pedro.