Australia’s second biggest farming services player, Ruralco, has approached rival Elders about a merger deal to create a $500 million rural services group to rival market leader Landmark. Ruralco chairman Richard England outlined the proposal in a letter to his Elders counterpart, John Ballard, last month.
Ruralco believes there would be significant cost savings in merging Australia’s No. 2 and No. 3 rural services groups and that they could close unprofitable stores to compete better with Landmark.
