One of the companies that helps feed Nigeria has a new controlling owner in Riyadh. The Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, known as SALIC, has completed a transaction raising its stake in Olam Agri Holdings to a controlling 80.01 per cent, in a deal valued at about $1.88 billion, according to Olam Group. The transaction implies a total valuation of about $4 billion for Olam Agri and closed on April 27, 2026, after all required regulatory approvals, according to Milling Middle East & Africa.
Who SALIC Is
The buyer is a state investment vehicle with a food-security mandate. SALIC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and it framed the acquisition as a transformative step in its strategy to expand its global footprint and strengthen its role in the food and agriculture sector, according to the Public Investment Fund. The move is part of a wider pattern of Gulf states buying into global agribusiness to secure supplies of grain and other staples for their own populations.
What Olam Agri Does in Nigeria
Olam Agri is not a peripheral player. The company sources, trades, ships and processes grains and oilseeds including wheat, maize, rice, sorghum and soybeans, and it runs edible oil processing and refining plants in Nigeria and Mozambique, according to ofi Magazine. Active in more than 30 countries, the business handled about 41.5 million tonnes of commodities in 2024, the same report noted, placing it among the larger millers and grain handlers operating in Nigeria's rice, wheat and flour chains.
The Structure of the Deal
The purchase is being completed in stages. Olam Group sold a 44.58 per cent tranche to lift SALIC to 80.01 per cent, while retaining 19.99 per cent as an associated company, and it holds a put option to sell the remaining stake for about $800 million within three years, at which point Olam Agri would become wholly owned by SALIC, according to World Grain. Olam Agri Co-Founder and Chief Executive Sunny Verghese described the completion as a step to accelerate the group's growth and strengthen its position as an integrated food-security business, according to the same report.
Why It Matters for Nigeria
Ownership of the pipes that move staples is part of the story behind prices. When a company embedded in Nigeria's rice, wheat and edible-oil supply changes hands to a foreign sovereign investor, it raises questions about who ultimately steers sourcing, processing and distribution decisions that ripple into the market. The Saudi Press Agency framed the deal as reinforcing SALIC's role across the entire value chain, from sourcing commodities to processing and logistics, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
FoodPrices Nigeria tracks verified retail prices for rice, flour and oils across Lagos markets, and will keep watching how shifts in who owns the country's big food handlers feed through to what households pay.
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