Marubeni Corp. (8002), Japan’s biggest grain trading company, is in exclusive talks to buy closely held U.S. grain handler Gavilon Group LLC for about $5 billion, including debt, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The negotiations are in the final stages and a deal may be announced in the next several days, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. An accord may still fall through, the person said.
Buying Gavilon would allow Marubeni, whose shares rose today in Tokyo, to expand in the U.S., the world’s largest producer and exporter of corn.