Thailand’s leading agriculture conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) signed a strategic alliance agreement with Japan’s third-largest trading house, Itochu, on 24 July.
The agreement involves the joint development of expansion into the food, communications and chemical industries of Asia as well as the joint promotion of livestock and marine-related business in Thailand China and Vietnam.
The agreement, posted on Itochu’s website, is part of Itochu’s expansion in to China, where CP Group has been operating for three decades.
As part of the strategic alliance, CP Group will buy $1bn worth of shares from Itochu, worth a 4.9 per cent stake, while Itochu will purchase a 25 per cent stake in CP Group’s Hong Kong-based subsidiary CP Pokphand.
Itochu bought Dole’s Asian fruit and vegetable business and international packaged food business for US$1.7bn last year and also has a stake in China’s major food distribution company Ting Hsin.
