ADM TO SETTLE LAWSUIT.Byline: Cliff Edwards Associated Press Archer Daniels Midland The Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM), is a conglomeration based in Decatur, Illinois. ADMoperates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into numerous products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed Co. agreed Friday to pay $25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the ``supermarket to the world'' of fixing prices for an animal feed supplement. The agricultural giant still could be hit with criminal charges over the supplement, called lysine lysine (lī`sēn), organic compound, one of the 20 amino acids commonly found in animal proteins. Only the l-stereoisomer appears in mammalian protein. . And it also faces dozens of lawsuits accusing it of price-fixing products like citric acid citric acid or 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, HO2CCH2C(OH)(CO2H)CH2CO2 and corn syrup used in soft drinks. ``This is not a sweetheart deal for ADM See add/drop multiplexer. (language) ADM - A picture query language, extension of Sequel2. ["An Image-Oriented Database System", Y. Takao et al, in Database Techniques for Pictorial Applications, A. Blaser ed, pp. 527-538]. ,'' said Robert Swift, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the class-action suit - 600 feed mills and livestock and poultry companies, including Purina and Tyson Foods Inc. Payments from two other major distributors of lysine will push the settlement to more than $45 million. Lysine speeds animal muscle growth. ADM, based in Decatur, Ill., controls more than 40 percent of the $600 million market. The settlement is subject to approval by a federal judge. A hearing is scheduled for next week. Analysts said ADM got off relatively lightly. ``Twenty-five million is hardly a slap on the wrist, but for a company that has $3 billion in cash on its balance sheet, it just isn't a lot,'' said Prudential Securities analyst John McMillan. ADM reportedly had set aside as much as $45 million to cover civil litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. , he said. The settlement appeared to ease investor concern; ADM shares closed up -3/8 at 18-1/2 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. . ``Without admitting to any of the conduct alleged, but to avoid the enormous uncontrollable costs of protracted pro·tract tr.v. pro·tract·ed, pro·tract·ing, pro·tracts 1. To draw out or lengthen in time; prolong: disputants who needlessly protracted the negotiations. 2. litigation, ADM has agreed with other companies to contribute to a settlement fund,'' the company said. The U.S. units of Japan's Ajinomoto Co. and the BioKyowa Inc. U.S. unit of Kyowa Hakko Ltd., both of them major distributors of lysine, would pay $10.175 million each to settle their portion of the case, Swift said. The Justice Department still is investigating whether ADM and other companies colluded to fix prices on lysine and other crop-based products, and whether turncoat executive Mark E. Whitacre illegally diverted money to a Swiss bank account, as ADM contends. |
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