U.S. agricultural commodities trader Cargill Inc said Tuesday it has signed a deal to acquire NatureWax, an Illinois-based producer of vegetable oil-based waxes used to make candles.
The deal is expected to close at a later date, a Cargill spokesman said, but terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Vegetable oil-based wax, an alternative to petroleum-based products, burns longer and cleaner and is easier to infuse with fragrances, Cargill said in a release. Cargill is among the world’s biggest vegetable oil producers and traders.
Cargill previously owned NatureWax from the late 1990s until 2007, when it was sold to the current owner Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc.
The 151-year-old grain trader has recently been refocusing its operations by exiting lower-margin businesses and expanding deeper into higher-margin endeavors like food ingredients and aquaculture to capitalize on consumer trends such as simpler ingredient labels and bio-based products.
By Karl Plume
Source: Reuters
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