Glencore to Buy Viterra of Canada for $6.2 Billion OTTAWA - A consortium led by Glencore International reached a deal to acquire Viterra, the largest Canadian grain handler, for $6.2 billion, a widely anticipated transaction that will expand the commodities trader's presence in agriculture. The all-cash deal comes months in advance of the end to the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on export sales of a variety of grains. Canada is the world's third-largest wheat exporter. In an apparent bid prevent the deal from being blocked by Canada's foreign investment review agency, Agrium, a Canadian fertilizer producer, and Richardson International, another Canadian grain handler, will pay Glencore 2.6 billion Canadian dollars to acquire some of Viterra's Canadian assets, including grain elevators, farm stores and mills. Glencore will retain Viterra's large holdings in South Australia, another leading grain exporting region. "The acquisition of Viterra reflects our strong belief in the importance and future potential of the Canadian and Australian grain markets," Chris Mahoney, the director of agricultural products at Glencore, said in a statement. Earlier this month, Viterra said it had been approached by several would-be buyers. On Monday, it announced that it had narrowed the field to a single purchaser. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by Viterra's board, values the company's shares at 16.25 Canadian dollars apiece, 48 percent above the price before Viterra announced it was being pursued. "Viterra employees created a world-class agri-business, of which I am very proud," Mayo Schmidt, the president and chief executive, said in a statement. This has been recognized by Glencore and its partners. The end to the wheat board's monopoly has divided farmers in Western Canada, the country's grain growing region. The Federal Court of Canada recently ruled that the government broke the law without first explicitly acquiring their consent to change the marketing system. That ruling is being appealed. Viterra was founded in 2007 after the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, a former farmers" cooperative, acquired Agricore United, a grain handler that itself was formed from cooperatives in Alberta and Manitoba. During the wheat board debate, some farmers expressed concern that an end to its monopoly would force Viterra into foreign hands. The federal government dismissed those concerns and said that any acquirer would be based in Canada. It was not immediately clear if the partnership Glencore formed would successfully mitigate those concerns.