Augustea Atlantica S.p.A. and Bunge Limited Announce New Partnership with York Capital Management

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Augustea Bunge Maritime Limited ("ABML"), a joint venture company of Augustea Atlantica S.p.A. and Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG), today announced the formation of a new joint venture with York Capital Management. The new company, ABY Holding Limited ("ABY"), will operate an independent fleet of ocean-going dry-bulk vessels.  The Malta-based venture intends to grow through the acquisition and chartering of modern ships. 

The ABY fleet currently includes two ships that are in-service, the ABML Eva (106kdwt, built in 2012) and the ABML Grace (172kdwt, built in 2002). ABY also owns three additional ships that are under construction at top Japanese shipyards.  ABML will bring the combined expertise of its partners to the new venture, with Augustea providing technical management and a Bunge subsidiary providing advisory services.

Koert Erhardt, Managing Director of ABML, will lead the joint venture and continue to build on the commercial success of ABML since its launch in 2011. The partnership with York will further the commercial goals of ABML by expanding the resources available to build a fleet of scale. Of the new partnership Mr. Erhardt said, "This is a truly unique opportunity to draw on the complementary resources and skill sets of Augustea, a world class ship owner, Bunge, a leading global agribusiness, and York, a top tier investment firm."

William Vrattos, Partner and Head of Global Credit at York Capital Management, said, "We are pleased to participate in this joint venture as we seek to gain further exposure to the compelling investment opportunities we see in the maritime shipping industry."

"This venture with York represents another exciting milestone in our more than 50 years of experience in deep-sea shipping," said Raffaele Zagari, CEO of the Augustea Group. "ABY will continue to focus on acquiring first-class quality dry bulk tonnage while benefitting from the wide array of skills that our partners provide. This new partnership will help Augustea enhance its ability to provide first-class maritime services to its customers."

Giovanni Ravano, Managing Director of Ocean Freight and Global Logistics at Bunge Limited added, "Through these partnerships in vessel ownership, Bunge continues to expand in ocean freight and further develop our insights into the global supply chain, which is an integral part of our core business."

About Augustea Atlantica S.p.A.  

Augustea Atlantica S.p.A. operates more than thirty dry bulk ships, 14 of which are owned, with the remainder comprised of vessels chartered-in and in joint-venture with other first class operators. In 2012 Augustea Atlantica moved approximately 10 million tons of bulk commodities across the globe. Augustea (http://www.augustea.com) is a privately owned group headquartered in Italy with offices in London, Singapore, Malta, Buenos Aires and in Colombia, also active in harbor towage and heavy lift with dedicated barges and tugs. Augustea provides a first-class service to customers, emphasizing safety and reliability.

About Bunge Limited

Bunge Limited (www.bunge.com, NYSE: BG) is a leading global agribusiness and food company with approximately 35,000 employees in more than 40 countries. Bunge buys, sells, stores and transports oilseeds and grains to serve customers worldwide; processes oilseeds to make protein meal for animal feed and edible oil products for commercial customers and consumers; produces sugar and ethanol from sugarcane; mills wheat and corn to make ingredients used by food companies; and sells fertilizer in North and South America. Founded in 1818, the company is headquartered in White Plains, New York.

About York Capital Management

York Capital Management is a global investment management firm with primary offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.  The firm, founded in 1991 by James G. Dinan, manages approximately $17 billion employing event-driven investment strategies specializing in arbitrage, special situations and distressed credit opportunities.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather reflect our current expectations and projections about our future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. We have tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words including "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "continue" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The following important factors, among others, could affect our business and financial performance: industry conditions, including fluctuations in supply, demand and prices for agricultural commodities and other raw materials and products used in our business; fluctuations in energy and freight costs and competitive developments in our industries; the effects of weather conditions and the outbreak of crop and animal disease on our business; global and regional agricultural, economic, financial and commodities market, political, social and health conditions; the outcome of pending regulatory and legal proceedings; our ability to complete, integrate and benefit from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic alliances; our ability to achieve the efficiencies, savings and other benefits anticipated from our cost reduction, margin improvement and other business optimization initiatives; changes in government policies, laws and regulations affecting our business, including agricultural and trade policies, tax regulations and biofuels legislation; and other factors affecting our business generally. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and except as otherwise required by federal securities law, we do not have any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Bunge Limited