Olam Group Limited

In 1989, the Kewalram Chanrai Group established Olam Nigeria Plc to set up a non-oil based export operation out of Nigeria to secure hard currency earnings to meet the foreign exchange requirements of the other Group Companies operating in Nigeria. The success of this operation resulted in Olam establishing an independent export operation and sourcing and exporting other agricultural products. The Group's agri-business was headquartered in London until 1996, and operated under the name of "Chanrai International Limited". The business began with the export of cashews from Nigeria and then expanded into exports of cotton, cocoa and sheanuts from Nigeria.

Move to Singapore

Between 1993 and 1995, the business grew from a single operation into multiple origins, first within West Africa, and then to East Africa and India. The move into multiple origin countries coincided with the deregulation of the agricultural commodity markets.

Olam International Limited was incorporated in Singapore on 4 July 1995 as a public limited company. In 1996, at the invitation of the Singapore Trade Development Board (now Enterprise Singapore), Olam relocated their entire operations from London to Singapore. Furthermore, the Singapore Government awarded Olam the Approved International Trader status (now called the Global Trader Programme) under which Olam was granted a concessionary tax rate of 10%, which was subsequently reduced, in 2004, to 5%. On relocation to Singapore, the Group's agri-business was reorganised to be wholly owned by Olam International Limited in Singapore.

IPO

In 2002, AIF Capital became the first external investor to take an equity stake in the company. In 2003, Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary Seletar Investments, took a stake in Olam, followed by International Finance Corporation (IFC). On 11 February 2005, Olam International Limited was listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange. In 2007, Olam acquired Queensland Cotton, including its American subsidiary Anderson Clayton. Temasek made a further investment in Olam in 2009.

As of December 2014, following a Voluntary General Offer Temasek held close to 80% of Olam. By 2020 this had reduced to 53.4%. In 2015 Mitsubishi Corporation acquired a shareholding of 20% making them the second largest shareholder.

The management team of Olam has a shareholding in the company approximating 6.3% of the total issued share capital. Olam's free float owned by public shareholders accounts for approximately 15.9% of the total issued share capital in 2020.

The group's food-ingredients division, OFI, had planned an IPO in late 2022, which was delayed due to the volatility caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Possible merger and divestment

In 2010, Olam International discussed a possible merger with one of its main competitors; Geneva-based Louis Dreyfus Company, the world's largest cotton and rice trading company. This idea was abandoned in early 2011.

Olam International currently one of the founding members of the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), a multi-stakeholder platform, co-convened by United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the International Rice Research Institute to promote resource efficiency and sustainable trade flows, production and consumption operations, and supply chains in the global rice sector.