Canadian grain marketer CWB said on Monday it has agreed to buy Great Sandhills Terminal Ltd, a farmer-owned 20,000-tonne grain handling facility in Leader, Saskatchewan, for $16.3 million. The deal, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, is expected to close by Sept. 1. It also includes a majority stake in a short-line railway in Saskatchewan. CWB did not release further financial details. CWB, which was previously known as the Canadian Wheat Board, has made several deals to piece together a grain-handling network in the past year as it moves toward operating outside of government control. Ottawa stripped the board of its western wheat and barley marketing monopoly in 2012 and agreed to guarantee CWB's borrowings until it is sold or develops a plan to be self-sustaining by 2016.
