Margarita Louis-Dreyfus

As Louis-Dreyfus has taken an increasingly active role in the family business she took over after her husband’s 2009 death, other members of the Louis-Dreyfus clan have decided to exit the business, triggering a shareholder agreement clause that forces Louis-Dreyfus to buy out most of their remaining shares. The development will increase Louis-Dreyfus’s stake (via a trust called Akira) in the holding company that controls Louis Dreyfus Co., one of the world’s largest commodities traders, from 80% to 96%. The business at the core of LDC, meanwhile, is under continued pressure due to bumper harvests that have sent crop prices plummeting. As a result, LDC has announced plans for divestments and strategic partnerships for other parts of its business, the first of which came in July when it sold its African fertilizer business to Helios Investment Partners, a private equity firm.