Share Tweet Share Email Comments Print ADVERTISEMENT Last month, Pat Bowe gathered members of his family and drove down to the Maumee River to give them some insight into The Andersons Inc. — the grain, ethanol, rail, and fertilizer agribusiness that he captains. He showed them the company’s grain-loading operations and downtown docks, and from atop the large grain elevator they got a bird’s-eye view of a Great Lakes freighter filling its belly with grain from northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. “People forget about the fundamentals of agriculture. To feed people in the world you need farmers,” said Mr. Bowe, The Andersons’ president and chief executive. “It’s really about the fundamentals. Maybe I’m old-fashioned and corny about the old ag space … but I’m really proud of our company.” One could also call The Andersons “corny” — corn made up over two-thirds of the 550 million bushels of grains (corn, soybeans, wheat, and oats) the company handled over the last 12 months. Recently, the Monclova Township-based agribusiness made a huge move to make itself even more corny. The Andersons is buying the remaining 67.5 percent ownership stake in its long-time trading partner, the Lansing Trade Group, of Kansas City, Kan., a company that last year traded over 1 billion bushels of grain. “It’s the biggest acquisition in our history,” Mr. Bowe said of the $305 million cash and stock deal that is expected to close by Jan. 31. The addition of Lansing will nearly triple The Andersons’ size and allow… [Read full story]
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