. The division has approximately $20 million in sales and the
purchase price will be approximately $10 million in cash for fixed assets, inventory and
accounts receivable. The chemical and fertilizer division of Willamette Seed Company
specializes in the distribution of chemicals and the manufacturing and distribution of
fertilizer to farmers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, many of whom are contract
growers for turfgrass seed production.
ABT is selling this business in order to best serve customers and
farmers in the Willamette Valley. Sale of the business will allow ABT to focus on its core
forage and turfgrass seed business and provide customers and farmers the opportunity to do
business with a leading fertilizer and chemical company that focuses on this business. The
sale is also part of the Company's recently announced company-wide integration effort
designed to bring ABT's business closer to customers and increase earnings capacity.
Founded in 1921, Wilbur-Ellis is a San Francisco, California based
company specializing in the marketing, distribution and formulation of crop protection
products, fertilizers and animal feed stuffs primarily in the western region of the United
States. Through its Connell Bros. Company division, Wilbur-Ellis exports products
including industrial chemicals, minerals and feed to the Pacific Rim for many major U.S.
companies. In 1995, Wilbur-EIlis, in partnership with Fannland Industries, Inc., of Kansas
City, Missouri, formed WMFARM LLC, a Gladstone, Missouri based joint-venture focused on
providing wholesale distribution of crop protection products to independent and
cooperative agricultural input retailers in the Midwest.
AgriBioTech is a fully integrated full service seed company
specializing in the forage and turfgrass seed sector, complete with research and
development of proprietary seed varieties, seed processing plants, and a national and
international distribution and sales network. The Company has completed 33 acquisitions
since January 1, 1995 and is the largest forage and cool-season turfgrass seed company in
the world, with a current level of annualized net sales of approximately $475 million,
after the divestiture and including the previously announced pending acquisitions of the
alfalfa business and international sorghum units of AgriPro Seeds, Inc., Moore Seed
Processors, and Production Plus+, which have annualized net sales aggregating
approximately $35 million.
