By Rhiannon Hoyle
SYDNEY--GrainCorp Ltd. (GNC.AU) suffered its second blow in
almost as many days when its chief executive quit in the wake of
Australia's rejection of a 3 billion Australian dollar (US$2.7
billion) takeover bid by U.S. agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland
Co. (ADM).
Alison Watkins said she would leave next month after three years
as GrainCorp's chief executive, with chairman Don Taylor taking on
executive duties on an interim basis until a successor is
found.
"I have carefully weighed my options over the past two days,"
Ms. Watkins said in a statement to Australia's stock exchange. "I
had planned to leave the company at the time control passed over to
ADM."
GrainCorp shares dropped sharply after intense lobbying by
farmers and some conservative politicians helped derail the deal
with ADM--the first to be opposed by the new Conservative
government since their September election victory. Austrlian
Treasurer Joe Hockey said Friday that the deal couldn't proceed on
national interest grounds.
The proposed acquisition would have left 60% of wheat shipments
from Australia controlled by three companies: ADM, Glencore Xstrata
PLC (GLEN.LN) and Cargill Inc. It also would have put almost all
the country's eastern grain export infrastructure under foreign
ownership.
"The expectation in the investment community was that ADM's
offer for GrainCorp would be approved and effected in the near
term," Mr. Taylor said. "In that context, it is not surprising that
an executive of Alison's caliber has attracted interest and had new
opportunities presented to her."
GrainCorp said Ms. Watkins is leaving for a new opportunity in
the corporate sector, but didn't elaborate. An external and
internal search for her successor has already started.
A senior ADM official said earlier that the company was
considering an enlarged stake in GrainCorp, and wouldn't appeal the
acquisition ruling. Those remarks followed Mr. Hockey's comment
that he would likely allow the U.S. grains giant to boost its
investment in the company to 24.9% from its current 19.9% "to
encourage ADM to demonstrate its commitment to the Australian
grains industry."
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
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