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increasing while arable land is decreasing, we ultimately think that over the medium term there are lots of opportunities." Canadians have a huge advantage in this sector equipped with good gover- nance and strong balance sheets, says O'Donoghue. She notes Agrium is look- ing abroad over the long term to Asia, Brazil, China, and Indonesia. They are selling some products in those countries through distributors, but it doesn't have boots on the ground there yet. "If you're not keeping pace with the growth that is happening outside of North America I think the fear is you'll be left behind." But going internationally demands a company look at the challenges of doing business abroad. Agrium has expanded into Argentina, they also went into Egypt four years ago. "It's not for the faint of heart but it gets us into Europe. We're doing it in pieces in that we're in Western Europe looking to get into central Europe and eastern Europe. We really feel with our Australian acquisition last year the next phase is really more expansion within that base and then you're into the Asia-Pacific market." Woollcombe adds that Canadian food and agriculture companies are actually doing more business abroad than people may think. "In various industries you often hear that Canadian companies are getting gobbled up and not buying as much outside Canada to the same degree as non-Canadians are buying in Canada. I'm not sure that's actually true. We see lots of Canadian companies looking to make acquisi- tions outside of Canada," he says. They may not grab huge headlines, Involved in a Proxy Fight or Unsolicited Offer? Having the right team in your corner can make all the difference. The best operations team in execution and service for your clients. Canada's best Proxy Contest win record 3 years running. North America's only independent, cross border Proxy Solicitation firm. but there are large food and agri- business acquisitions being made by Canadian companies. "There are things Canada is known for and it's not just oil, gas, and mining — food would fall into that as well," says Kristian Knibutat, Canadian deals leader with PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada Toronto. "We've certainly seen some transactions in the food space that would fit into that category of areas Canada is known for." Knibutat has been following the sec- Knowledge is Everything™ laurelhill.com Corporate Governance Asset Recovery 22 • FEBRUARY 2012 aurelHill_IH_Feb_12.indd 1 INHOUSE 12-01-10 9:08 AM tor for some time now and says there are good opportunities for Canadian companies to do business abroad in India and China, especially in the fun- damental areas of assisting in the devel- opment of infrastructure for foreign markets, which could be opportunities for Canadian companies. "We believe Canada is well-developed in the agri- cultural space — it's part of our heritage and what we've built our economy on, and food is becoming a critical issue particularly for emerging markets. It's a good opportunity for Canadians to take the expertise we have in the agricultural sectors overseas and help those coun- tries as they are developing their agri- cultural businesses," he says. "When I was in India the key issue I saw that they have in the food sector is perishability. in