Agricultural cooperative Ceres Solutions has announced it will pursue an investment in United Prairie LLC, an agricultural supply business operating in Illinois.
Due diligence has begun, with the ownership investment to be finalized by the end of the summer.
Curt Miller, CEO of United Prairie, says the proposal demonstrates the on-going importance of developing strong strategic partnerships to continue to serve local farmers with products, services, technologies, and innovation.
"United Prairie’s direction has always been to add cooperative owners that enhance our ability to provide the highest level of service and value to the growers we serve," says Miller.
In the proposed purchase, Ceres Solutions would become 20% owner of the operation and existing stakeholders in United Prairie would have reduced ownership percentages accordingly.
"We’re pleased to take this next step in making an investment that will benefit both Ceres Solutions and United Prairie,” says Jeff Troike, CEO of Ceres Solutions.
The immediate advantages to both organizations would be alignment between two strong midwestern agricultural cooperative operations, and potential synergies of procurement, logistics and other opportunities.
Both Ceres Solutions and United Prairie would continue to operate independently in their customer-facing segments and compete in the marketplace.
The agreement is expected to be finalized by late spring, and the transaction completed by August 1.
Ceres is a farmer-owned cooperative based in Crawfordsville, IN, with agronomy products and services available in 32 locations in Indiana and Michigan.
