January 31, 2017
Archer Daniels Midland Company has reached an agreement to sell its Crop Risk Services business to Validus Holdings, Ltd. for $127.5 million, subject to certain working capital and balance sheet adjustments, and regulatory review. The deal includes a marketing services agreement under which ADM and Validus will work together to continue to offer a full range of insurance and farmer marketing products and services to CRS customers. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.
Who are the parties involved?
ADM Crop Risk Services is a Decatur, Illinois-based primary crop insurance company. CRS was first established in 1982 as ASI AgriServe Inc. In 2010, ADM acquired 100% of the shares of ASI, and the company became ADM Crop Risk Services.
Validus Holdings, Ltd., is a holding company for reinsurance and insurance operating companies and investment advisors including Validus Reinsurance, Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., Western World Insurance Group, Inc. and AlphaCat Managers, Ltd.
Why did ADM make the deal?
“We regularly evaluate our portfolio to ensure that our businesses and assets best fit our strategy to maximize long-term returns,” said Joe Taets, president of ADM’s Agricultural Services business unit. “As a result of that ongoing process, we have identified a better strategic fit for the Crop Risk Services business. In the years since we purchased ADM CRS, that team has built it out to become a significant market participant. Equally as important, ADM CRS has become a platform through which our grain business is able to offer our farmer partners a wide array of services that benefit both them and ADM. Now, we’re pleased to have reached an agreement that benefits ADM on two fronts: it includes a marketing services agreement that will allow ADM and Validus to work together to continue to offer customers a full array of crop insurance products as well as ADM’s grain marketing services, while the sale of the business gives us the opportunity to redeploy capital as part of our balanced capital-allocation framework. We are pleased to have found a buyer in Validus that is committed to running—and growing—the business, and we look forward to continuing to work with Validus and the CRS sales team and their customers across the country. This is a good solution for ADM, our shareholders, the CRS team, and the farmers who are the foundation of our business.”
Where will Validus base the crop risk services business?
Validus, which has more than 800 employees, has committed to keeping the CRS business intact, including maintaining its operations in Decatur.
Why did Validus make the deal?
Ed Noonan, Validus’ chairman and chief executive officer, stated, “I’m very pleased to welcome CRS to Validus. CRS is a high quality crop insurance provider that has achieved excellent growth in recent years. Validus will benefit from CRS’s commitment to provide superior customer service to agents and farmers via their leading technology capabilities. The addition of CRS complements Validus’ existing agriculture book and participation in this market is a logical step as Validus continues to expand our presence in U.S. primary specialty lines. We are excited by the long-term partnership with ADM as this transaction further provides the unique opportunity of a marketing services agreement with one of the largest agricultural processors in the world.”
Source: ADM
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