Bunge to buy Corn Products International

Bunge Ltd. said Monday it is buying Corn Products International Inc. in an approximate $4.8 billion all-stock transaction that Bunge says will create a larger, more diversified and competitive global provider of agribusiness and food products.

Westchester, Ill.-based Corn Products is one of the world's largest corn refiners and a supplier of food ingredients and industrial products derived from the wet milling and processing of corn and other starch-based materials.

Bunge CEO Alberto Weisser said in a release Monday that the purchase "will add higher-margin starch and sweetener products to Bunge's product portfolio, expand our operations in important growth markets, and diversify our revenue stream with a solid cash flow business."

Under the terms of the deal, Corn Products (NYSE: CPO) stockholders will receive common shares of Bunge with a market value of $56 for each share of Corn Products common stock that they own, subject to adjustment. The $56 per share price is a 30.5 percent premium over Friday's closing price of $42.90. Corn Products shares were trading at $50.87 late afternoon Monday, up $7.97, or 18.6 percent.

2010 addition:Bunge terminated the agreement to purchase Corn Products in November 2008 after the economic crisis eroded the all-stock offer’s value by almost two-thirds to $1.68 billion and the corn processor withdrew its support for the deal.