LOL, United Suppliers to merge input units
Land O’Lakes, Inc., Arden Hills, Minn., and United Suppliers Inc., Ames, Iowa, have announced their intent to merge their crop inputs businesses. Together, the two organizations will provide owner customers’ expanded product offerings, enhanced precision agriculture services, tools and technologies, improved product insights, consulting services and more.
“This move comes at a time when scale is increasingly important in addressing changing industry dynamics, including rapid consolidation on the supplier, retailer and grower levels, fast-paced technological innovation and the need for increasing and expanded service offerings for customers,” said Chris Policinski, LOL president and CEO. “We are excited to come together with United Suppliers and expect our members, owners and customers will benefit greatly from this merger.”
Under this agreement, the intention is to merge United Suppliers and LOL. The first step of the merger will be to combine the two companies’ seed and crop protection businesses, and a second step to follow will bring in the crop nutrient business. This merger builds on the recent successes of the two companies and aims to create a single, strong, relevant and competitive entity. In 2014, LOL’s WinField had $4.9 billion in seed and crop protection product sales and United Suppliers had $2.6 billion in crop protection, seed and crop nutrient sales.
“United Suppliers is excited to join with Land O’Lakes Inc.,” said Brad Oelmann, president and CEO of United Suppliers. “We are both experiencing great growth in this industry and together we view this merger as a continuation of that journey.”
Before the deal is final, both United Suppliers’ owners and LOL members will need to vote on the details surrounding the merger. Those votes are slated for August 2015, with the closing anticipated in October 2015.
Aligned Ag Distributors LLC, Ames, Iowa, which is jointly owned by Franklin Holding Co. LLC and United Suppliers, responded to the news. “We have been in communication with the leaders of Land O’ Lakes/WinField and United Suppliers during these negotiations. We congratulate them on their recent announcement and we look forward to working with the newly merged company as our partner in Aligned Ag Distributors,” said Steve Watts, chairman of Franklin Holding and president/CEO of Aligned Ag Distributors. “Together, we will provide extensive coverage for the key agricultural regions of the U.S. and beyond.”
Land O’Lakes/WinField, United Suppliers, and Aligned Ag Distributors will each continue with their existing go-to-market strategies and will draw upon each other’s expertise to better meet customer needs.
Franklin Holding was founded by six retail distributors located in the western U.S. including The McGregor Co., The Tremont Group, Mid Valley Agricultural Services, Buttonwillow Warehouse Co., Butte County Rice Growers Assn., and Land View Inc. These companies operate independently, however, their crop protection divisions are formally aligned under the umbrella of Aligned Ag Distributors.