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Investments | 3 Months Ended
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Nov. 30, 2015
Investments [Abstract] |
Investments | Investments As of August 31, 2015, we owned 88.9% of NCRA and with the final closing in September 2015, our ownership increased to 100%. NCRA is now known as CHS McPherson. In fiscal 2012, we entered into an agreement to purchase the remaining shares of NCRA from Growmark Inc. and MFA Oil Company in separate closings to be held annually thereafter, with the final closing occurring on September 1, 2015. Pursuant to this agreement, we made payments during the three months ended November 30, 2015 and 2014 of $153.0 million and $66.0 million, respectively. In addition to these payments, we paid $2.6 million during the three months ended November 30, 2015 related to the associated crack spread contingent liability. The fair value of the remaining contingent liability was $43.7 million as of November 30, 2015. In August 2015, we entered into an arrangement with CF Industries Holdings, Inc. ("CF Industries") to invest $2.8 billion in cash in exchange for an 11.4% membership interest (based on product tons) in CF Industries Nitrogen LLC ("CF Nitrogen") and a separate agreement to purchase nitrogen fertilizer products from that entity over an 80-year term. The closing date for our investment in CF Nitrogen is anticipated to be February 1, 2016, and we intend to finance this transaction using additional long-term debt in combination with existing credit facilities and available cash. Equity Method Investments Joint ventures and other investments, in which we have significant ownership and influence, but not control, are accounted for in our consolidated financial statements using the equity method of accounting. Our significant equity method investments are summarized below. We have a 50% interest in Ventura Foods, LLC ("Ventura Foods"), a joint venture which produces and distributes primarily vegetable oil-based products, and is included in Corporate and Other. We account for Ventura Foods as an equity method investment, and as of November 30, 2015, our carrying value of Ventura Foods exceeded our share of its equity by $12.9 million, which represents equity method goodwill. As of November 30, 2015, the carrying value of our investment in Ventura Foods was $354.0 million. In fiscal 2014, we formed Ardent Mills, LLC ("Ardent Mills"), a joint venture with Cargill Incorporated ("Cargill") and ConAgra Foods, Inc., which combines the North American flour milling operations of the three parent companies, giving CHS a 12% interest in Ardent Mills. As we hold one of the five board seats, we account for Ardent Mills as an equity method investment included in Corporate and Other. As of November 30, 2015, the carrying value of our investment in Ardent Mills was $201.8 million. TEMCO, LLC ("TEMCO") is owned and governed by Cargill (50%) and CHS (50%). Both owners have committed to sell all of their feedgrains, wheat, oilseeds and by-product origination that are tributary to the Pacific Northwest, United States ("Pacific Northwest") to TEMCO and to use TEMCO as their exclusive export-marketing vehicle for such grains exported through the Pacific Northwest through January 2037. We account for TEMCO as an equity method investment included in our Ag segment. As of November 30, 2015, the carrying value of our investment in TEMCO was $56.6 million. Other Short-Term Investments In the first quarter of fiscal 2015, we invested $315.0 million of the proceeds from the September 2014 Class B Reset Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, Series 3 ("Class B Series 3 Preferred Stock") issuance (see Note 7, Equities for additional information) in time deposits with original maturities of six and nine months with select highly-rated financial institution counterparties. As of November 30, 2015, we had no outstanding short term investments.

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