St. Louis, Missouri
May 31, 2007
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today that it has
reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
that will allow it to complete its proposed acquisition of
Delta and Pine Land Company.
Under terms of the agreement, which was filed today in Federal
Court in Washington, D.C., Monsanto will be required to divest
certain assets including its U.S. branded cotton seed business.
Monsanto plans to close its
acquisition and resulting divestitures as soon as possible
following the required approvals from the court and the DOJ.
Acquisition expected to facilitate greater innovation in the
cotton industry
"We remain focused on closing our acquisition of this leading
cotton seed brand as soon as possible and continuing its
tradition of delivering innovation to the farm," said Hugh
Grant, chairman, president and chief executive officer of
Monsanto Company.
"We believe our acquisition of Delta and Pine Land will help us
facilitate greater innovation within the cotton industry by
accelerating the number of products available to cotton farmers
and generating new value for our business," Grant said.
Monsanto believes its acquisition of Delta and Pine Land will
accelerate the discovery and delivery of new innovation to
cotton farmers and the cotton industry. By combining Monsanto's
technology with Delta and Pine Land's germplasm, cotton farmers
are expected to realize enhanced benefits through the
development of higher-yielding genetics and next generation
technologies like water use efficiency, cotton fiber quality
improvements and protection against sucking insect pests.
Monsanto announces divestiture agreements, takes steps to
support consent decree elements
In line with its agreement with the DOJ, Monsanto announced
that:
- It has entered into a
definitive agreement to sell its Stoneville® cotton seed
brand and related business assets, subject to Justice
Department approval, to Bayer CropScience for $310 million.
As part of this agreement, Monsanto has agreed to sell to
Bayer CropScience certain conventional cotton parental lines
that Monsanto will acquire from Delta and Pine Land's cotton
breeding program. Monsanto will retain a non-exclusive
license to these same parental lines. Bayer's FiberMax®
brand and the Stoneville brand will continue to be licensed
to use Monsanto's cotton trait technologies.
- It has entered into a
definitive agreement to sell its NexGen™ cotton seed brand
and related business assets, also subject to Justice
Department approval, to Americot for $6.8 million. As part
of this agreement, Monsanto has agreed to sell to Americot
certain conventional cotton parental lines that Delta and
Pine Land acquired from Syngenta in 2006. The Americot® and
NexGen brands will continue to be licensed to use Monsanto's
cotton trait technologies.
- It will be amending
certain cotton licensing agreements so that its other cotton
licensees have the same terms that Delta and Pine Land
enjoyed with regard to the use of third-party trait
technologies.
- It will provide to
Syngenta certain germplasm in Delta and Pine Land's breeding
pipeline that contains VIPCot™ trait technology. This action
is intended to allow Syngenta to continue its development of
this technology.
Monsanto outlines expected next
steps as it works to close acquisition
During the interim period between when the company completes its
acquisition and when it completes its divestitures, the Delta
and Pine Land business will operate independently of Monsanto's
other commercial operations.
Monsanto has been cooperating with the DOJ regarding the
proposed divestitures and is now requesting final approval of
those divestitures from the DOJ under the terms of its
agreement. Once the divestiture of the Stoneville and NexGen
businesses has been completed, Monsanto will begin working to
combine the Delta and Pine Land business into its business
operations.
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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