St. Louis, Missouri
September 11, 2007
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today that it has
acquired Agroeste Sementes,
a leading Brazilian corn seed company, for slightly more than
$100 million. Agroeste focuses on hybrid corn seed production
and serves farmers throughout Brazil, the world's third largest
corn production area.
Under the terms of the agreement, Monsanto acquired ownership of
100 percent of Agroeste's businesses including its corn seed
brands. Monsanto financed the transaction with cash.
"Agroeste will serve as an important complement to our existing
national brand approach in Brazil," said Brett Begemann,
Monsanto's Executive Vice President of Global Commercial.
"The acquisition will allow our companies to provide new and
innovative higher yielding seed offerings through multiple
brands and will bolster our genetics platform for the
introduction of our trait technologies longer term," Begemann
said.
Brazilian farmers planted approximately 30 million acres of corn
in the 2006-2007 growing season. Today, Monsanto estimates that
the Brazilian hybrid corn seed market is 23 million acres.
Monsanto believes that the acquisition will enhance the
company's existing corn germplasm portfolio, enabling the
company to deliver new higher-yielding seed offerings to
Brazilian corn farmers. Agroeste's corn seed products are
currently used on approximately 10 percent of Brazil corn acres.
Monsanto's corn seed products, sold locally through the DEKALB
and Agroceres seed brands, are currently used on approximately
30 percent of corn acres in Brazil.
Monsanto noted that the combination of each company's germplasm
portfolios is also expected to support the introduction of
biotech trait offerings in Brazil longer term.
Last month, the Brazilian National Biosafety Technical
Committee's (CTNBio) approved Monsanto's MON 810 insect
protection event, known in the United States as YieldGard® Corn
Borer, for future commercial use in corn in Brazil. The CTNBio
approval may be followed by a review from the National Biosafety
Council (CNBS) to examine social and economic factors. Following
a favorable review by CNBS, and approvals of the individual MON
810 events in specific hybrid varieties, farmers will be able to
plant these higher-yielding seeds.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality. |
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