Members of the founding family of Louis Dreyfus Commodities — one of the world’s largest traders of coffee, sugar and wheat — have asked the Russian-born billionaire who now controls the company to buy out most of their stake.
People familiar with the situation said the family members had informed majority shareholder Margarita Louis-Dreyfus of their intention to sell 16 per cent of the holding company, worth about $1bn. They currently own 20 per cent of the group.