Olam expands operations
Olam Ghana Ltd has taken over operations of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Ghana Ltd, a cocoa paste manufacturing company in Kumasi.
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The $1.3 billion deal, which will be concluded in October this year, adds to Olam’s current cocoa purchasing and other businesses in the country.
Olam Ghana is currently into Edible nuts, manufacturing of floor, confectionery and tomato paste in the country apart from the cocoa purchasing business.
The Managing Director of Olam Ghana Ltd, Mr Amit Agrawal, who disclosed this to the Graphic Business, said the acquisition was to increase Olam’s operations in the country.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a four-day annual Olam Managers Conference at Bunso in the Eastern Region.
It brought together more than 250 senior managers, accountants, district managers and warehouse managers from 58 cocoa districts from across the country.
Mr Agrawal said despite the economic challenges that confronted the nation and the world last year, Olam Ghana Ltd still made giant strides and pledged to expand its operations to create more jobs and also increase the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
Mr Agrawal challenged the staff of Olam Ghana Ltd to position themselves for more as it was currently positioning itself to increase its investment in the country, the sub-region and the world as a whole.
ADM
ADM, the world largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers with its headquarters in the United States of America (USA), has been in Ghana since 2005 with the aim to explore cocoa processing opportunities, and in 2009, it opened the facility in Kumasi.
Today, it plays a vital role in adding value to the nation’s cocoa bean and supplying semi-finished products to customers in the candy, bakery and cosmetics industries the world over.
Compliance
According to Mr Agrawal, although Olam was in the cocoa purchasing business, the company would ,however, depend on cocoa supply from the Ghana Cocoa Board to feed the Kumasi plant in compliance with regulations binding the operations of the company.