The Monaco-based Mimran Group has agreed a memorandum of understanding with Seaboard Corp. under which Seaboard intends to acquire the flour milling and associated businesses of Groupe Mimran in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Monaco.

The businesses would increase the flour and feed milling capacity of its businesses by about 15 percent, to more than 24,000 tonnes per day, and its grain trading volume by approximately 9 percent, to 10.5 million tonnes per year, Seaboard said.

“We are excited to further our investment in sub-Saharan Africa with this acquisition and believe the culture and operations will be a great fit with our existing structure,” said Steven Bresky, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seaboard.

“Seaboard has had commercial ties with the Mimran Group for almost 40 years, and we look forward to integrating the business into our existing trade strategy and expand our cargo and trade opportunities as a result of this transaction. We expect to continue to work closely together with the Mimran Group by leveraging our existing strengths into a better industrial and trade-based business.”

The Mimran Group is one of the leading agri-food groups in West Africa, operating sugar refining, flour milling and animal feed businesses. Its main companies in flour milling and sugar refining include Grands Moulins de Dakar, Grands Moulins d’Abidjan, and Compagnie Sucriere Senegalaise.

Jean Claude Mimran, the Group’s president, was born in 1945 and has been described as the Sugar King of Africa. The Monaco-based Mimran Group is reported to be the second-largest employer in Senegal after the government. A Swiss resident, Mimran is worth two billion Swiss francs (€1.7 billion), according to Swiss business magazine Bilanz.

“We are delighted to enter into this memorandum of understanding with Seaboard,” said David Mimran, President and Director General of Grands Moulin d’Abidjan and Grands Moulins de Dakar.

“An important consideration for us was that any new owner shares the same values and culture that we have instilled within our businesses over the years. Just like ourselves, Steve Bresky is the third generation of his family running a substantial business, and I very much look forward to assisting Mr Bresky and his team in any way we can with respect to this new chapter in the development of the business.”

The Memorandum of Understanding precedes the negotiation and execution of a definitive purchase agreement and due diligence by the buyer.

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