Olam buys Archer-Daniels-Midland cocoa unit for $1.3 billion

Olam International Ltd, the commodity trader controlled by Singapore's state investment firm, agreed to buy Archer-Daniels-Midland Co's cocoa business for $1.3 billion to become a top-three processor of the bean.

The deal, Olam's biggest acquisition, draws a line under the company's programme last year of spending cuts and reducing debt in response to short-seller Muddy Waters's questioning of its finances. It follows Olam's smaller purchase of US peanut sheller McCleskey Mills Inc for $176 million, including debt, announced earlier this month.