Olam sees golden US$2.72b opportunity for acquisitions amid crisis: CEO

They're looking to pounce on slumping agricultural commodity prices.

Temasek-owned commodity trader Olam International is ready to deploy almost $2 billion on acquisitions to take advantage of slumping agricultural commodity prices, according to a report by Bloomberg.

"We are begging to enter a buyer’s market," Sunny Verghese, chief executive officer of Olam, held 51 percent by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, said in an interview. "We will do bigger deals that really move the needle for us."

Verghese revealed the acquisition plans less a month after Mitsubishi Corp. bought a 20 percent stake in Olam for about $1 billion in a sign that Asian trading houses are betting growth of populations and wealth in the region will spur demand for higher-quality food.

Read the report in full here.