The AWB Group
AWB Limited ("AWBL"), AWB (International) Limited ("AWBI") and AWB (Australia) Limited ("AWBA") were established under amendments to the Wheat Marketing legislation which effected the privatisation of the Australian Wheat Board. As a result of the structural changes introduced on 1 October 2003 to separate AWB’s wheat export related operations from its commercial activities for credit rating purposes and the acquisition of Landmark, AWBL now has a number of operating subsidiaries.
In general terms, the roles of the major companies in the group are as follows:
- AWB Limited, as the holding company, is responsible for joint venture investments and projects and earning a return on shareholders' funds. It is also the vehicle for the voting interest of growers in the conduct of the AWB National Pool and the services provided to it.
- AWB (International) Limited is responsible under the Wheat Marketing Act 1989 for operating the AWB National Pool with the objective of maximising and distributing net returns to growers who sell grain to the pools, and manages the export of bulk wheat through the Single Desk system as well as exercising the statutory power of approval of other bulk wheat exports.
- AWB (Australia) Limited is responsible for domestic wheat and other grain trading as well as the export of other grains. Its activities also extend to other commercial ventures such as chartering and AWB Seeds.
- AWB Services Limited provides, on a fee for service basis, the management and business infrastructure required to support AWB Group operations, including asset management (building, IT software and hardware etc) and staff. AWB Services Limited holds an Australian Financial Services Licence – No. 231173.
- AWB Harvest Finance Limited provides growers delivering to the AWB National Pool with a suite of financing alternatives (replacing AWB Finance Limited). It also manages foreign currency and interest rate exposures for AWBI’s pooling activities.
- AWB Commercial Funding Limited provides working capital finance and manages foreign currency and interest rate exposures for the commercial subsidiaries of AWB Limited.
- AWB Riskassist Limited provides risk management services to growers participating in the Basis Pool, in particular, providing a service to manage foreign currency and commodity risk. AWB Riskassist Limited holds an Australian Financial Services Licence – No. 244128.
- AWB GrainFlow Pty Ltd operates AWB's supply chain and logistical services and provides modern bulk grain handling facilities to growers. AWB GrainFlow Pty Ltd owns 21 grain centres throughout Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland.
- Landmark Operations Limited is the principal operating entity for Landmark in Australia (excluding Queensland) and holds an Australian Financial Services Licence – No. 247332.
- Landmark (Qld) Limited is the principal operating entity for Landmark in Queensland.
Shareholding Structure
AWBL’s corporate structure consists of two classes of shares:
- A Class shares – which are shares that can only be issued to current wheat growers (that meet the definition of a grower in the AWBL constitution), cannot be transferred and are automatically redeemed when the A Class shareholder ceases being a wheat grower. A Class shares are not entitled to receive any dividends, however, they do carry other important rights giving A Class shareholders control of AWBL, including giving A Class shareholders the ability to elect a majority of the Board of directors of AWBL.
- B Class shares – these are the shares which are quoted on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). B Class shares carry rights to receive dividends and the right to elect a minority of the Board of directors of AWBL. They can be freely traded between wheat growers and non-growers, subject to no shareholder owning more than 10% of the B Class shares on issue.
When the former statutory Wheat Industry Fund ("WIF") was converted into capital of AWBL, B Class shares were issued to WIF unitholders (with one B Class share being issued for each WIF unit entitlement). Following a further capital raising and admission of AWBL to the Official List of the ASX, B Class shares commenced trading on the ASX on 22 August 2001.
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