Canada's Viterra in talks to buy ABB Grain - report

MELBOURNE, April 28 (Reuters) - Canadian grain group Viterra (VT.TO) is in talks to acquire Australian grains handler ABB Grain (ABB.AX) for around A$1.58 billion ($1.12 billion), the Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday.

Without citing sources, the newspaper said Viterra was understood to have approached ABB with a possible offer of between A$9 and A$9.50 a share.

That would be at least 29 percent above ABB's last trade. Its shares jumped 12 percent on Monday to A$7.00.

The newspaper said it was not clear whether an offer would be purely cash or include Viterra shares.

Talk of Viterra's interest follows the failure in December of merger talks between ABB and local rival AWB Ltd (AWB.AX), who were looking to build scale to better compete with commodity trading giants like Cargill Inc [CARG.UL].

ABB said then that it would continue to seek merger and acquisition opportunities in the global agriculture sector.

Viterra has said it is seeking acquisitions outside Canada to add to its grain and agriproducts businesses. The company has C$700 million ($575 million) in cash available for growth, chief operating officer Fran Malech said in March. ($1=1.404 Australian Dollar, 1.217 Canadian Dollar) (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by )