<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> One of Japanâs biggest global businesses, Mitsubishi, has bought a majority interest in Olam Grains Australia, thereby acquiring a 26% stake in Newcastle Agri Terminal, and says it will invest in up-stream infrastructure. </span> <p>Rail and terminal investment could be on the cards on the east coast after Mitsubishi paid around $68.2m for an 80% stake in the grains business, which is a subsidiary of the much larger Olam International. Olam said the deal was done on a ‘willing-buyer, willing-seller’ basis, for a price which values the grains business, as a whole, at roughly $85.2m.</p><p>“Mitsubishi Corporation is our partner of choice in leveraging the growing Asian demand for grains and competing effectively in the Australian grain industry,” Olam president and global head of grains, KC Suresh said.</p><p>“Together, we plan to invest in upcountry procurement and logistics to scale up our local presence and further build a differentiated and competitive model in Australia.”</p><p>Olam Grains Australia holds a 32.5% stake in Newcastle Agri Terminal, a new grain export point in the Port of Newcastle, which it co-owns with fellow grain exporters Glencore and CBH. The terminal has 60,000 metric tonnes of storage and has the capability to unload trains and load large vessels at a rate of 2000tph.</p><p>Mitsubishi, which through its 80% stake in Olam Grains Australia now owns 26% of the terminal, said the deal was done to enable the company to expand its grain procurement business in Australia.</p><p>“The acquisition of [Olam Grains Australia] also signals [Mitsubishi]’s first involvement in the terminal business in Australia,” a spokesperson for the Japanese conglomerate said. “[Mitsubishi] has been involved in the grain procurement business in Australia for decades through subsidiary feed company Riverina, but the acquisition of interests in an export terminal bolsters its capacity to forge a stronger and more stable procurement system in Australia’s competitive grain market."</p>
