The story
Founded by Léopold Louis-Dreyfus in 1851.1
In 1851, the company was founded in the Alsace region of France by Léopold Dreyfus, the 18-year-old Alsatian Ashkenazi Jewish son of a farmer from Sierentz, under the name of his father, Louis Dreyfus. Léopold purchased wheat from local farmers in Alsace and transported it to Basel in Switzerland, 13 kilometres (8 mi) away. Léopold developed a fortune whilst still a teenager through cross border cereal trading. He rapidly diversified across shipping, weapons manufacturing, agriculture, oil and banking, thus establishing one of the wealthiest dynasties in Europe. His descendants still own the company to this day. By the early 20th century, the Louis-Dreyfus family was described as one of the "top five biggest fortunes of France".
The family being Jewish, during the Second World War much of the family assets were confiscated by the Vichy government and some members of the family fled to America. In 1941 a temporary non-Jewish administrator was appointed to run the Louis Dreyfus Corn Dealers company.
On 11 May 2018, Louis Dreyfus Company sold its metals platform (LDC Metals, or LDCM) to NCCL Natural Resources Investment Fund. The final price of the transaction was US$466 million.
In December 2023, Louis Dreyfus Company made a takeover bid to acquire Australian cotton processor Namoi Cotton.
In March 2024, it was announced LDC had signed a binding agreement to fully acquire the Brazilian instant coffee exporter, Cacique for an undisclosed amount.
From Wikipedia’s article on Louis Dreyfus Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5