Indiana-based agricultural cooperative Ceres Solutions has announced it will pursue an investment in United Prairie LLC, an agricultural supply business operating in Illinois. Due diligence has begun, with the ownership investment to be finalized by the end of the summer.
“We’re pleased to take this next step in making an investment that will benefit both Ceres Solutions and United Prairie,” said Jeff Troike, CEO of Ceres Solutions.
Curt Miller, CEO of United Prairie LLC, agreed, noting, “The proposal demonstrates the ongoing importance of developing strong strategic partnerships to continue to serve local farmers with products, services, technologies, and innovation. United Prairie’s direction has always been to add cooperative owners that enhance our ability to provide the highest level of service and value to the growers we serve.”
In the proposed purchase, Ceres Solutions would become 20% owner of the operation and existing stakeholders in United Prairie would have reduced ownership percentages accordingly.
The immediate advantages to both organizations would be alignment between two strong midwestern agricultural operations, and potential synergies of procurement, logistics and other opportunities. Both Ceres Solutions and United Prairie would continue to operate independently in their customer-facing segments and compete in the marketplace.
The agreement is expected to be finalized by late spring, and the transaction completed by August 1.
United Prairie is an agronomy LLC with 13 locations in Illinois. Prior to the addition of Ceres Solutions, UP is owned by investing partners: Danvers Farmers Elevator (Danvers, Illinois), Topflight Grain, Inc., (Monticello, Illinois), Premier Cooperative (Champaign, Illinois), and CHS Inc., (St. Paul, Minnesota).
