ADM in deal to buy another health ingredient supplier-Reuters

(Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co plans to buy Specialty Commodities Inc for $170 million in its second deal for a health-focused ingredient supplier in three months, the agribusiness company said on Monday.

Fargo, North Dakota-based Specialty Commodities, which is majority owned by private equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison, buys natural and organic ingredients and distributes them to customers that make snacks, cereal, pet food and other products.

ADM, one of the world’s biggest grain traders, this month completed a 2.3 billion euro deal for Swiss-German natural ingredient company Wild Flavors.

The Chicago-based company said the acquisitions would help reduce the volatility of its earnings, which have traditionally been linked to the booms and busts of crop production.

ADM said it expected the Specialty Commodities deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, to close in the coming weeks.

ADM, along Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Corp, are known as the “ABCD” companies, which dominate the flow of agricultural commodities around the world.

Shares of ADM were down 0.9 percent at $45.96 after touching a three-month low of $45.89.