Agricore United was a farmer-directed agribusiness in Canada. It supplied crop nutrition and crop protection products, and offered grain handling and marketing services. It was created on November 1, 2001 by the merger of Agricore and United Grain Growers. It was headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its shares were publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "AU" ("AU.LV" – Limited voting common shares; "AU.DB" – Convertible 9% debentures; "AU.PR.A" – Series 'A' preferred shares) until June 15, 2007, when it was taken over by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) had a 28% stake in the company at the time of the takeover. Corporate history Ancestry Agricore United was the continuation of several companies with deep historical roots in western Canada. The Grain Growers' Grain Company Limited was originally incorporated in 1906 under the laws of Manitoba. In 1917, The Grain Growers' Grain Company Limited and The Alberta Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Company Limited amalgamated to form United Grain Growers Limited (UGG). In 1923, the Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP) was incorporated under the laws of Alberta. In 1924, Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE) was incorporated under the laws of Manitoba. In 1992, UGG was continued under the Governing Act, a Special Act of the Parliament of Canada. In 1998, AWP and MPE merged to form Agricore Cooperative Limited. In 2001, UGG combined its business operations with Agricore Cooperative Ltd. and began doing business as Agricore United. Takeover In November 2006, the company became the target of takeover bids from two other rival grain handlers: the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool ("SaskPool", "SWP") of Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg-based James Richardson International ("JRI"). The initial and subsequent offers from SaskPool involved a stock swap, with no or little cash being offered, prompting the AU Board of Directors to reject them. In February 2007, AU and JRI announced that they had negotiated a merger arrangement to form a publicly traded company to be known as "Richardson Agricore", subject to shareholder agreement. A subsequent bidding war led to a stock+cash offer from SaskPool and an all-cash offer from JRI to form a private company; a higher, $20.50 all-cash offer from SaskPool in May eventually prevailed, with 81% of the limited voting shares being tendered to the Pool by shareholders by the end of May, including all the ADM shares. This exceeded the 75% required by the terms of AU's incorporation to