Dive Brief:
- Cargill has filed a lawsuit against Vittera over alleged deceptive practices at Australia's Joe White Malting.
- Cargill purchased Joe White from Vittera for $420 million last year, and says it promptly learned that the malt company was not operating up to standard. Cargill says Joe White is capable of meeting contractual obligations to customers only 60% or less of the time.
- Vittera, a Canada-based grain handler that was purchased by Glencore International months before the Joe White sale, has not yet responded to questions from the press.
Dive Insight:
There's no telling what the truth is here yet, but the details are telling. Australian beer makers who buy their malt from Joe White say the company is not performing. Cargill says Joe White is not performing. And since Vittera isn't talking, there's no one making a claim that all is well at Joe White.
No doubt this will all prove to be an interesting case. But perhaps not as interesting as the sordid tale unraveling in an Aspen court involving a particularly nasty battle among the heirs to the Cargill fortune.