Chad Hart, associate professor, was interviewed for a story on KTIC about the possible sale of commodity trader Bunge to Archer-Daniels-Midland.
“With tighter margins, companies are looking at how can we wring more out of the system,” Hart said. “When I’m looking here at this proposal, to me when I’m looking at the two, what I see is ADM is the stronger company in North America, while Bunge is a little stronger in the South American market. It’s creating that marketing arm that reaches all across the Americas and helps streamline how they move product from the farm to the end user.”
Neil Harl, emeritus professor, who was also interviewed for the story, said, "My position has been that the federal agencies monitoring concentration have been less than aggressive, particularly since the 1980s with the change of leadership in Washington, especially with respect to mergers. It is never too late to right a wrong in government, business or academe.”
“I am adamantly opposed to any merger or acquisition that moves the level of concentration above 50% and any proposed merger or acquisition should be scrutinized well below that level. The evils of concentration are well known. Healthy and open competition in the long-term continues to be the most important feature of any government and of any economic system,” Harl said.