AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Shares in Nutreco (>> NUTRECO) fell five percent on Tuesday after U.S. commodities company Cargill [CARG.UL] said it was pulling out of a bid battle for the Dutch animal feed maker.

Cargill's withdrawal leaves the field clear for Dutch investment firm SHV which has made an offer valuing the company at around 3.1 billion euros (2.44 billion pounds). SHV said on Tuesday it now owned 15.3 percent of Nutreco's issued share capital.

Minneapolis-based Cargill said it was no longer pursuing a deal after considering "the attractiveness of acquiring Nutreco relative to alternative potential investments."

That represented a change of heart after Cargill said earlier this month that it was interested in the business but would go it alone, rather than bidding with private equity investor Permira.

Nutreco shares were down 5 percent at 44.17 euros by 1015 GMT on Tuesday in Amsterdam as the prospect of further rival bids faded.

SHV has made an offer of 44.50 euros a share which won the backing of the Nutreco board. SHV, which has its roots in a 19th century coal trading company, has committed to making no redundancies, not breaking the company up and keeping its headquarters in the Netherlands.

The bidding activity around the company comes amid a spate of deals in the animal feed industry as global players seek a bigger piece of the food supply chain.

One of the world's largest listed feed companies, Nutreco has itself been trying to bolster its global position, recently buying two Brazilian feed companies to boost its emerging markets presence.

Nutreco had sales of 5.2 billion euros last year.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Keith Weir)