Mexico's Gruma buys back 23-pct stake from ADM in $450 million deal

Mexican corn flour processor Gruma has purchased a 23.2 percent stake of its own stock that was previously held by U.S. agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland , part of a $450 million deal Gruma announced in a statement on Sunday.

In addition to the Gruma stake, the company also purchased minority stakes in its units Azteca Milling, Molinera de Mexico and Gruma Venezuela.

Gruma said an additional $60 million could be paid to ADM depending on the share price performance as well as other factors over the next 42 months.

The company also said it exercised the preferential rights of certain shareholders to make the purchase, which was financed in large part by a $400 million, one-year loan led by Goldman Sachs.

In November, the controlling family of Gruma said it planned to match a rival bid from Mexican businessman Fernando Chico Pardo to buy the same 23 percent stake.

Before this deal, the family of Gruma's late founder Roberto Gonzalez Barrera controlled 50.05 percent of the company's stock, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia, Editing by G Crosse)