Bunge Agrees to Sell Two Brazilian Sugarcane Mills to COFCO International

Bunge Global SA (Q23.DE ) announced on September 1, 2026 that it has entered into an agreement to sell its two sugarcane mills in Brazil to COFCO International. The mills, Rio Vermelho and Nova Unialco, are located in the municipalities of Junqueirópolis and Guararapes in the state of São Paulo. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed in the company’s announcement.

The two mills were formerly owned by Viterra Limited and became part of Bunge upon the close of the companies’ business combination in July 2025. The completion of the sale to COFCO International is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals.

“As Bunge focuses on our strategic priorities and positions the business for long-term growth, this transaction is the right step forward. We are grateful to the sugar mills team for their dedication and contributions to the company,” said Julio Garros, Bunge’s Chief Operating Officer, in the company’s announcement.

Mills Joined Bunge Through the Viterra Combination

The Rio Vermelho and Nova Unialco mills came into Bunge’s portfolio through the company’s merger with Viterra Limited, which Bunge announced as completed on July 2, 2025. The closing created what Bunge described as a premier global agribusiness solutions company for food, feed and fuel.

In its completion announcement for that transaction, Bunge said the combined company’s highly complementary asset footprints would position it to connect farmers in the world’s largest production regions to areas with the fastest-growing consumption. The company also said the combination was expected to benefit from significant incremental network synergies across joint commercial opportunities, vertical integration efficiencies, and improved logistics optimization and trading optionality from a larger and broader network.

Following the close, the combined company is led by Greg Heckman as Chief Executive Officer and John Neppl as Chief Financial Officer. Viterra Chief Executive Officer David Mattiske joined the Bunge Executive Leadership Team as Co-Chief Operating Officer alongside Julio Garros, who had most recently served as Bunge’s Co-President of Agribusiness. As co-COOs, the two jointly oversee commercial activities including the global commodity value chains, country and regional management teams, renewable fuels initiatives, regenerative agriculture solutions, and industrial operations and safety, according to the company.

Bank of America (BAC ) Securities served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal counsel to Bunge on the Viterra combination. Bunge described itself in that announcement as a world leader in grain origination, storage, distribution, oilseed processing and refining, with approximately 37,000 employees and a presence in more than 50 countries. The company has its registered office in Geneva, Switzerland and its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

Prior Exit From Brazilian Sugar and Bioenergy

The announced mill sale follows an earlier divestiture of Bunge-owned sugar assets in Brazil. On June 20, 2024, Bunge announced that it had entered into definitive agreements to sell its 50% share in BP Bunge Bioenergia to bp, its joint venture partner. That joint venture, formed in 2019, combined the two companies’ Brazilian bioenergy and sugarcane ethanol businesses with a total of 11 mills located across the Southeast, North and Midwest regions of Brazil.

Bunge said at the time that the sale was expected to yield net proceeds close to $800 million, depending on the timing of closing and customary closing adjustments, and characterized the transaction as the second and final monetization event of its ownership in the business. At closing, expected in the fourth quarter of 2024, bp would own 100% of the business.

“We are pleased with the way the business is operating and the great work the team has done to become a leader in sugar and bioenergy since we created this joint venture with bp,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Heckman said in the June 2024 announcement. “However, this business is not core to Bunge’s long-term strategy and this transaction will allow us to focus and invest in our core businesses while also further strengthening our balance sheet.”

J.P. Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor to Bunge on that transaction, and Tauil & Chequer Advogados, associated with Mayer Brown, acted as legal counsel. Unlike the BP Bunge Bioenergia sale, the newly announced transaction with COFCO International covers milling assets that Bunge acquired rather than assets it historically operated.

Buyer’s Existing Brazilian Sugar Operations

COFCO International is one of the largest sugar and ethanol producers in Brazil, according to the company’s official description of its sugar business. The company sources sugarcane largely from São Paulo state, where it manages 189,000 hectares of plantations, and its four existing sugar mills produce sugar and ethanol products for domestic and international markets. COFCO International also trades sugar from South Asia and Southeast Asia.

The company operates a transhipment terminal in Votuporanga that receives raw sugar from nearby plants and mills; those products are stored before being transported to COFCO International’s terminal in Santos or to other third-party port terminals. Its sugar trading desks are located in the United States, Brazil, Geneva, Dubai, New Delhi, Bangkok, Shanghai and Singapore, sourcing and supplying bulk raw sugar and white sugar.

COFCO International describes raw sugar as derived from the juice extracted from sugarcane before being refined into other products, with bagasse, a by-product of sugar production, and ethanol also providing fuel to generate power, particularly in Brazil. The company describes Brazil as the world’s largest producer of sugar, accounting for 25% of global production, and of ethanol.

Bunge has not disclosed an expected closing date for the mill sale beyond the stated closing conditions, and the announcement did not identify financial or legal advisors for the transaction. The company stated that it routinely posts important information for investors in the Investors section of its website.