UBS has won the mandate to sell Archer Daniel Midland's stake in GrainCorp, fund manager sources told Street Talk.
The investment bank bought the 19.9 per cent shareholding in the Australian grain giant for $8.53 a share, having secured substantial demand from fund managers on Thursday night.
The block trade is valued at $387 million.
It's understood a handful of long-only institutions have snapped up the stock.
The long-awaited block trade comes three years after ADM's $3 billion bid to buy the ASX-listed company was blocked by Australia's then-Treasurer Joe Hockey.
ADM acquired the stake in 2012 as part of the takeover deliberations. It has been sitting on GrainCorp's register as a frustrated investor for the bulk of the time since.
GainCorp shares last traded at $8.71, above the $8.50 level ADM was seeking to offload its holding in July.
That ill-fated sale saw ADM hire Lazard Australia to run a "blind date" pitching process, pitting Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS's equities teams against each other in a content seeking best price and terms.
ADM then opted to retain its shareholding in the Australian grain giant after bids came in around the $8 mark and none of the offers were for the entire stake.
The GrainCorp sell down comes amid a bumper year for wheat growers, with a record crop fuelling hopes of strong financial returns.
But last month GrainCorp chief executive Mark Palmquist moved to temper investor expectations of a big jump in profit due to a global oversupply of grain and the timing of the harvest.
"While this year's larger crop is welcome, harvest is at least three weeks late this year and there is a long way to go before it is all stripped and in the bin," he said.
GrainCorp reported a 3.7 per cent fall in statutory net profit to $30.9 million in the year ended September 30, which was dragged down by $21.8 million in one-off costs. Underlying net profit of $52.7 million was 18.4 per cent higher than the prior year, while full-year revenue rose 1.8 per cent to $4.158 billion.
