|
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 |
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
Members of two western Ohio farm cooperatives overwhelmingly passed the consolidation of Advanced Agri-Solutions Inc. and Southwest Landmark Inc. to form a new company, Trupointe Cooperative Inc.
Advanced Agri-Solution President and CEO Larry Hammond announced Monday during a teleconference that the members of both cooperatives voted in favor of the consolidation and that the two operations will become one. The consolidation takes effect Sept. 1.
The votes on consolidation of the two cooperatives passed with 77.1 percent of the 1,294 ballots cast by Advanced Agri-Solutions members and 82 percent of the 632 ballots cast by Southwest Landmark members in favor of the decision. Sixty percent was needed.
“Obviously, the consolidation provides us with some cost-savings, some synergies and some efficiencies by operating one corporate structure instead of two,” Hammond said. “It also allows our customers and members to take advantage of our employee expertise, while our employees can focus on a more specific area and develop and help farmers by having more specialized knowledge.”
Hammond said the larger company should gain an advantage in purchasing power and selling because of a stronger market presence.
Combined the two cooperatives had sales of $496.4 million in 2009, with Advanced Agri-Solutions having $279 million in sales and Southwest Landmark having $217.4 million in sales.
Together the two cooperatives have a total of 45 locations in 29 counties from Fort Wayne, Ind. to the Ohio River. They have a total of 510 full-time employees with an average length of service of 25 years.
“We have a map of the territory from Fort Wayne to Ohio River which shows that the two territories do not overlap and it will be business at usual at our branch locations,” Hammond said. “There is approximately a 30-mile gap between our branches in the Urbana-Springfield area and our branch in Green-ville.”
He said they are looking to locate the new headquarters in the Troy area “where the two management teams will work side-by-side.”
The next steps in the process center on the legal and financial paperwork to consolidate the two entities.
Southwest Landmark CEO and President Gordon Wallace talked about the benefits of consolidating the two cooperatives.
“One of the biggest things is our strengths are very complimentary of each other,” Wallace said. “Southwest Landmark is bigger in energy, we are bigger in the propane industry and they are not, so we can take our expertise in the propane business and bring that to the territory of Advanced Agri-Solutions.
“They are a lot bigger in grain and grain marketing than Southwest Landmark, so Advanced Agri-Soutions can bring their expertise in grain and grain marketing to our members in Southwest,” he said.
Wallace continued with his persuasive points noting Advanced Agri-Solutions can bring their expertise in feed grain and feed sales to Southwest Landmark, and Southwest Landmark has a greater expertise in seed technology and sales and can bring those areas of expertise to Advanced Agri-Solutions.
“The exciting part of the consolidation is it is good for all of our members — it is good for all of our customers because we do not have to reinvent the expertise we can use it throughout our territory,” Wallace said.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 February 2010 )
|
