Margarita Louis-Dreyfus. Picture: BLOOMBERG
The agreement with ADQ should reduce some pressure from lenders including Credit Suisse. Until now, Louis-Dreyfus has repaid her debts by taking hefty dividends from the trading house, often larger than the annual profits, which had resulted in a drop in its equity value. While the fund owns large businesses spanning key sectors of the oil-rich emirate’s economy, including Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Abu Dhabi Airports, the Dreyfus deal will be its first major overseas investment. It has in the past year emerged as one of the most active sovereign dealmakers from the Gulf, strengthening Abu Dhabi’s food, energy and logistics security through a flurry of transactions.
It isn’t the first time that a state-owned investment firm has acquired an interest in one of the world’s largest agricultural commodities trading houses. Temasek, a state-owned firm of Singapore, is the majority owner of Olam International, a coffee-to-cotton trader. In 2012, GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, bought a 5% stake in Bunge, becoming its largest shareholder. It later sold its stake.