Cargill International SA

Geneva has been Cargill's worldwide command center for grain and oilseed trading since 1956, decades before Switzerland became the gravitational center for commodity trading houses. The same office doubles as the global headquarters for Cargill's ocean freight and shipping, an unusual dual mandate for what is, on paper, a single national subsidiary.

This is the Swiss legal entity of Cargill, Inc., the American agribusiness that ranks among the largest privately held companies anywhere. From Grand Lancy it trades grain and oilseeds on its own account and runs trade and structured finance, transportation, and risk management around them. The arrangement gives one site outsized reach: it sits at the junction of what the parent grows, ships, and finances across the world.