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Limagrain, through its plant breeding subsidiary Vilmorin & Cie, purchases a 25% minority interest in Australian Grain Technologies (AGT)
Vilmorin renforce son expertise en blé en entrant au capital d'Australian Grain Technologies (AGT)

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Paris, France
July 15, 2008

Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) has finalised an agreement which will see Limagrain, through its plant breeding subsidiary Vilmorin & Cie, purchase a 25% minority interest in AGT.

Limagrain, a French-based grower-owned cooperative, is a global leader in plant breeding, seed production and commercialisation. It is the fourth largest seed company in the world operating through subsidiaries in more than 30 countries.

AGT Chairman, Ron Storey said the agreement would significantly improve AGT's ability to deliver on its core business of providing Australian wheat growers with ongoing gains in productivity and quality.

"Integrating international expertise into the company has been an important part of AGT's long term strategic plan and this agreement will help to ensure AGT remains at the cutting edge of breeding technology and can capture new market opportunities for Australian growers," Mr Storey said.

AGT Chief Executive Officer, Dr Stephen Jefferies said the new relationship with Limagrain was appealing to AGT shareholders due to the very similar grower and research driven culture fundamental to both organisations.

"Limagrain is a grower owned cooperative that spends more than 100 million Euro annually on research and development," Dr Jefferies said.

"Limagrain is a strong believer in innovation being the driving force behind evolutions in agriculture and has a unique cooperative attitude to research.

"Its broad plant breeding and seed commercialisation expertise accumulated over 150 years will help AGT build on its established strengths in technical skill and germplasm."

Dr Jefferies said AGT would benefit from Limagrain's, direct connection into the food supply chain, from seed to supermarket, through its investments in the production and commercialisation of cereal ingredients and bakery products.

"Limagrain Céréals Ingrédients is the European leader for functional and natural flours and has recently entered the market for bio-degradable plastics made from cereals. Through Jaquet, Limagrain is the second largest industrial baker in France," Dr Jefferies said.

Through this relationship with Limagrain, AGT will also have the opportunity to join in collaborative research projects supported by Céréales Vallée, a European research cluster dedicated to innovation in cereals.

Limagrain joins current AGT shareholders, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), The University of Adelaide, The University of Sydney, and GrainCorp who all remain strongly committed to the future success of AGT. The Australian shareholders will retain 75% ownership of AGT.

Through GRDC, Australian growers are stakeholders in AGT and GRDC will continue to maintain the largest shareholding in the company.

"The addition of Limagrain's expertise will help AGT in its quest to provide Australian growers with the ongoing gains in productivity, quality and disease resistance they have come to expect from us. This is a great extension of more than 100 years of plant breeding service by AGT and its predecessors to Australian growers" said Dr Jefferies.

Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) arose from an industry led restructure of several long running public sector wheat breeding programs. AGT has since become a leading Australian wheat breeding entity. AGT and its predecessors have more than a century of experience in plant breeding, plant breeding related research, and commercial variety development. Our team of experienced plant breeders combine the latest developments in plant breeding and genetic technologies with traditional plant breeding principles, resulting in wheat and triticale varieties with superior quality and agronomic performance. AGTs success depends on its ability to meet the current and future needs of the Australian grains industry and the demands of growers and their markets. With comprehensive wheat breeding operations based in all of Australia's major wheat production zones, it is a truly national enterprise striving to meet the needs of Australian cereal producers. www.ausgraintech.com

Limagrain, through Vilmorin & Cie, is the fourth largest seed company in the world, is the European leader in field crop seed and number two in the world in vegetable seeds. Through subsidiaries, Limagrain has seed businesses in more than 30 countries but also has international partnerships with research organisations in many countries including the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, USA, France and Australia. Limagrain is also a major partner in three important biotechnology companies - Biogemma, Keygene and Genoplante. Limagrain Céréals Ingrédients is the European leader for functional and natural flours and through Jaquet, Limagrain is the second largest industrial baker in France.


Vilmorin renforce son expertise en blé en entrant au capital d'Australian Grain Technologies (AGT)

Vilmorin vient de conclure un partenariat stratégique avec la société australienne Australian Grain Technologies (AGT).

En concertation avec les autres actionnaires d’AGT, Vilmorin prend une participation à hauteur de 25 % du capital de la société. Par ailleurs, Vilmorin et AGT développeront conjointement, dès les prochains mois, de nouveaux programmes de recherche et d’échanges de technologies portant sur l’amélioration du blé.

Née en 2002 de la fusion de différentes entités publiques et privées, AGT est devenue le leader australien de la sélection, du développement et de la commercialisation de variétés innovantes de blé.

Ses actionnaires sont GRDC (Grains Research and Development Corporation), SARDI (South Australian Research and Development Institute), les Universités d’Adelaïde et de Sydney ainsi que Grain Corporation Pty Ltd.

Comme le souligne Adrian HUIGE, Directeur Général Délégué de Vilmorin : « Cette opération constitue une étape importante du développement de nos activités en semences de blé.

Déjà leader européen en céréales à paille (blé, orge), Vilmorin renforce, au travers du partenariat avec AGT, l’ouverture internationale de ces activités à de nouveaux marchés, ainsi que son accès à de nouvelles ressources. »

Quatrième semencier mondial, Vilmorin est expert dans la création de plantes potagères et de grandes cultures innovantes. Guidé par une vision responsable de son développement, Vilmorin s’appuie sur sa capacité de recherche et une croissance soutenue à l’international pour renforcer sa position d’acteur mondial.
Cotée sur Euronext Paris (compartiment A), l’action Vilmorin fait partie des indices Next 150, CAC Mid 100, SBF 250 et est éligible au SRD.

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