ABB Grain facts for kids
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| Industry | Agribusiness |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1939 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Adelaide, Australia |
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Key people
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Perry Gunner, Chairman Michael Iwaniw, managing director |
| Products | Grain, Malt, Wool, Fertiliser, Chemicals, Storage and Handling services |
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Number of employees
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1,100 |
ABB Grain was a very big company in Australia. It worked in agribusiness, which means it dealt with farming and food production. The company started in 1939. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, which is like a stock market. In 2009, another company called Viterra took it over.
For a long time, ABB Grain mainly bought and sold grain. Later, it started doing more things. This included storing grain and making malt. It also sold fertiliser to farmers. ABB Grain bought grain from all over Australia. It traded in many different types of grain.
History
ABB Grain started from an older group called the Australian Barley Board. The company grew and began doing many different things. Because of this, it changed its structure to become ABB Grain on July 1, 1999. This change helped it work more like a modern company.
Growing Bigger
In 2004, ABB Grain joined with two other companies. These were AusBulk and United Grower Holdings. AusBulk was a big company in South Australia. It handled grain storage and transport. This merger gave ABB Grain control over major grain handling operations. It also took over several parts of AusBulk's business.
After the merger, ABB Grain managed the whole process for grain. This included storing and moving it. They had a large network of silos. These are tall towers used to store grain. They also had export shipping terminals. These are places where grain is loaded onto ships. These locations were in South Australia and other eastern states. ABB also partly owned Australian Bulk Alliance (ABA). This was a partnership with a Japanese company called Sumitomo.
What ABB Grain Did
ABB Grain had a division called Joe White Maltings. This was Australia's largest producer of malt. Malt is used to make beer and other products. They could produce 500,000 tonnes of malt each year. They had eight malting plants across Australia. One of these was in Perth, Western Australia. It was the biggest malthouse in the southern hemisphere.
The company also offered services to farmers. They supplied fertiliser and special farm chemicals. They also worked with wool and livestock. To help with this, they bought other companies in 2007. These included Adelaide Wool Company, Wardle Co, and Stawool.
A Global Company
ABB Grain also had important operations in New Zealand. There, they traded and distributed grains and proteins. In 2007, ABB started a joint project in Ukraine. They partnered with a French malting company called Soufflet. Their goal was to buy grain, manage its transport, and sell it.
On May 19, 2009, a big announcement was made. Viterra, a large grain handler from Canada, wanted to buy ABB Grain. This deal was approved by shareholders in September 2009. The main office of the new company moved to Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada. However, the worldwide malting headquarters stayed in Adelaide. Together, the two companies handled a lot of the world's wheat, canola, and barley exports. Michael Iwaniw, the managing director, left his job on July 28. Shareholders then approved the merger on September 9.
