Monterrey, Mexico
August 1, 2002

Savia (BMV:SAVIA) (NYSE:VAI) announced today that it has reached an agreement with Seminis to convert Class C Preferred Stock into Common Stock.

This conversion will increase Savias' majority interest in Seminis to 77.5% enhancing its ownership in a subsidiary that has demonstrated its cash generating potential.

The agreement, which remains subject to Seminis' stockholders and Savias' Bank lenders approval, will allow the company to exchange all of its outstanding Class C Preferred Stock having a principal value of $120.2 million, Additional Paid-In Capital ("APIC") of $46.7 million and unpaid and accrued dividends on the Class C Preferred Stock and APIC of $10.0 million into 37,669,480 shares of Class A common stock. Upon completion, Savia will hold 78.3 million shares of the 101,106,543 total outstanding shares of common stock. Accrued dividends on the Class C Preferred Stock in the amount of $15.0 million will remain due and payable to Savia. The holding company will receive this dividend in cash and will apply it to its working capital needs.

The transaction will have a positive impact on Seminis' earnings per share available for common stockholders. By excluding accrued dividends on Class C Preferred Stock and Additional Paid in Capital and increasing the number of common shares outstanding, pro forma fully diluted earnings per share available for common stockholders for the third quarter fiscal year 2002 would be $0.04 per common share compared to a net loss of $0.01 per common share as reported last week in the company's preliminary results. Under the same assumptions, pro forma fully diluted earnings per share available for common stockholders for the first nine months of fiscal year 2002 would be $0.09 per common share, compared to a net loss of $0.05 per common share.

Mr. Alfonso Romo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We have brought the company to a point where we can enhance our capital structure to make Seminis a more attractive investment vehicle. These actions will provide the stockholders with a stronger and more transparent capital and ownership structure for the company. Equally important, this is accomplished while preserving the cash available to achieve our growth objective. This represents another important milestone for Seminis and its growing financial strength."

Mr. Romo added: "By freeing Seminis from nearly $17 million in annual dividend payments, we will positively impact our earnings per share available to common stockholders. Common stockholders will benefit from not having the company's current Class C Preferred Stockholders with preferential rights over them."

"Also," he noted, "the equity of the company will no longer be affected by payments on this Class C Preferred Stock. As a consequence, the debt to equity ratio will have better trend."

The agreement, which received a Fairness Opinion from UBS Warburg, was recommended by a special committee composed of independent directors of Seminis' Board of Directors and has been approved by Seminis' Board of Directors.

Savia participates in industries that offer high growth potential in Mexico and internationally. Among its main subsidiaries are: Seminis a global leader in the development, production and commercialization of fruit and vegetable seeds. Bionova, a company focused the distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables in the NAFTA region, and Omega a real estate development company.