Bunge Limited

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Bunge, Inc.

Type	Public, NYSE: BG
Founded	1818
Headquarters	USA
Key people	Alberto Weisser (CEO), Carl Hausmann (CEO, N. America)
Industry	Agriculture
Products	edible oil, oilseed processing, soy exporter, biodiesel, fertilizer
Revenue	> $US 25.2 billion (2004 sales)
Employees	25,000
Website	http://www.bunge.com/

Bunge Limited NYSE: BG (formerly Bunge International and prior to that Bunge Y Born) is a multinational food conglomerate. As well as being a leading global soybean exporter it is also involved in food processing, grain trading, and fertilizer. It competes with Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland.

Founded in 1818 by Johann Peter Gotlieb Bunge in Amsterdam, it was relocated to Antwerp by Edouard Bounge in 1859. Edouard's brother; Ernest Bunge, took the Bunge name to Argentina in 1884, and in 1905 the business extended to Brazil and later on to USA.

[edit] History

A global company with European roots that date back to its founding in Amsterdam in 1818. European immigrants arriving in Argentina in the late 19th century took advantage of the newly created wheatlands. Two families joined forces to play a large role in the grain and oilseed business, initially in Argentina and then worldwide. The owning families expanded their business into industry in Argentina and Brazil, including textiles, paint, chemicals, fertilizer, banking and insurance. Throughout the early and mid-20th century they continued to be successful, until 1974, when two third-generation family members, Jorge and Juan Born, were kidnapped by the Montoneros and recovered only after the payment of a $60m ransom. Concern over the terrorists' use of the money was one of the factors that led to the military coup in April 1976.

The families became even more low profile. But in 1989, Jorge Born, president of the company from 1987 (replacing the "business genius" Mario Hirsch), began working closely with the government of Carlos Menem. Bunge provided the government with its first two economy ministers. This intervention in politics upset the other shareholders and together with the company's lacklustre business performance, Born was ousted in 1991 and replaced by Octavio Caraballo.

The prior unity between the shareholders disintegrated as Caraballo struggled to modernize the company. Bizarrely the ousted Jorge Born has started working with one of his former kidnappers, Rodolfo Galimberti.

In 1994 the Bermuda-registered Bunge International was created as the main company in which the families have shares. There are around 180 shareholders – the main families are Hirsch, Bunge, Born, Engels and De La Tour. This replaced the older structure in which individual shareholders had stakes in all the different Bunge companies. Now only in Argentina does the Bunge y Born name still exist.

Through their three businesses - agribusiness, fertilizer and food products - they have established a leading global presence in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Bunge is the world's largest oilseed processor, the world's number one seller of bottled vegetable oil to consumers and the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America.

[edit] Products

Bunge is a leading agribusiness and food company with integrated operations that circle the globe, stretching from the farm field to the retail shelf. The world is its market – six billion people and counting. Bunge's 22,000 employees at over 450 facilities in 32 countries are dedicated to improving the global agribusiness and food production chain by:

manufacturing fertilizer and animal feed for farmers.
originating oilseeds and grains from the world's primary growing regions and transporting them to customers worldwide.
crushing oilseeds to make meal for the livestock industry and oil for the food processing, food service and biofuel industries.
producing bottled oils, mayonnaise, margarines and other food products for consumers.
milling wheat and corn for food processors, bakeries, brewers and other commercial customers.