Paris: France's Louis Dreyfus commodities, energy, shipping and telecommunications giant is one of the most famous commodities trading houses in the world but is also considered one of the most secretive.
The firm is still fully owned by the Louis-Dreyfus family and does not publish results.
It's history begins in 1851 in Alsace, in eastern France, when Leopold Dreyfus, 18, decided to create a trading firm that would buy wheat directly from Alsacian farmers and sell it eight miles away in the Swiss city of Basel.
The Louis Dreyfus & Co trading house was born.
By the turn of the century, Louis Dreyfus had grown into the world's leading grain trader. In 1913 it had offices in the United States, Brazil, Australia, Japan, India and even China.
"Louis Dreyfus is one of the first multinationals in the world," Jean-Claude Bourbon and Jacques-Olivier Martin wrote in a biography of the group's CEO, Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
Today it has offices in more than 53 countries and employs more than 10,000 people. Its turnover has exceeded $20 billion in recent years, the company said on its website.
The family obtained a court declaration to change its name to Louis-Dreyfus - with a hyphen unlike the company - at the end of the 19th century.
Despite a world expansion and a shift of commodities trading towards London and Chicago, Louis Dreyfus stayed in France.
After World War Two, the powerful yet discrete empire was in shreds, mainly because the commodities world had developed and the company had not followed the trend.
When competitors like US giant Cargill and Bunge massively invested in logistics and adapted to the changing market by adding processing and refining facilities, Louis Dreyfus clung to its business as a grain trader.
This cost the company its predominant position. It fell to fifth in the rankings and decided to diversify its activities while staying close to its core business.
Through its branch Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the group remains one of the world's leading trading houses in grains, cotton, cocoa, coffee, rice, sugar and oilseeds. It also has a 15-percent share of the global orange juice market.
