WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Archer Daniels Midland Co sold a grain storage plant worth millions of dollars for $250,000 to Sonny Perdue weeks after then-President Donald Trump tapped him to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
ADM, one of the world’s largest grain traders and food companies, had paid more than $5.5 million for the South Carolina property six years earlier, the Post said.
ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson told the Post the company did not sell the plant at a discount. ADM began negotiations with Perdue’s former company, AGrowStar, in 2015 before Trump was elected, she said.
ADM did not respond to requests for additional comment.
The company’s shares were down 10 cents at $60.69 in midday trading.
Perdue, 74, is a former Georgia governor. He has been in the running to head Georgia’s higher-education system, The Post said.
(Reporting by Washington newsroom and Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
