St. Louis,
Missouri and Ghent, Belgium
September 14, 2007
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and
Devgen nv
(Eurolist: DEVG) today announced that Devgen nv and its
Affiliates have signed agreements with Monsanto's Asia
subsidiaries for the acquisition of Monsanto's hybrid rice,
sunflower, sorghum and pearl millet businesses and certain other
assets.
Under the terms of the agreements, Devgen entities will purchase
the assets associated with Monsanto's rice, sunflower, sorghum,
and pearl millet businesses and certain other assets in India,
Pakistan and the Philippines, for approximately $ 26 million in
cash, subject to certain customary closing conditions. Sale or
transfer of assets of certain Monsanto's Asian subsidiaries is
subject to the approval of its shareholders in India.
Additional terms of the agreements are not disclosed.
Mr Sekhar Natarajan, CEO of Monsanto India, said: "With
Monsanto's focus on its core crops of cotton, corn, oilseeds as
well as its herbicides business we believe that rice, sunflower,
sorghum, and pearl millet would be better served in the hands of
a party more strategically focused on these crops allowing the
business to reach its full potential. We believe that Devgen has
the expertise and potential to take this business forward."
Thierry Bogaert, Devgen's CEO, added: "The acquisition of these
seed assets, combined with Devgen's trait technology and seed
business, will transform Devgen into a top tier seed and seed
technology provider in major Asian crops. We have now completed
the foundation of our trait and seed strategy."
"Devgen is committed to build and commercialize the innovative
seeds that Indian farmers require to increase their productivity
and meet the increasing demands on Asian staple crops like rice,
sorghum and pearl millet," says Stefan Frey, Devgen's COO. "This
creates exciting and vast growth business opportunities for
Devgen."
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
Devgen is a top 10 public agro biotech company
with agricultural business units focussed on developing and
commercializing:
-
a novel generation of biotech products to
protect a wide spectrum of crops from damage incurred from
pests;
-
biotech traits
and germplasm
to meet the growing needs for high yielding, high quality
hybrid rice and selected small grains in India and S.E.
Asia;
-
agro-chemical products with a safer and more
environmental friendly profile to protect crops from damage
inflicted by plant parasitic nematodes.
Devgen's biopharmaceutical division is developing
a new class of preclinical drug candidates, based on novel
therapeutic concepts, for treatment of a range of inflammatory
and metabolic diseases (diabetes, obesity) and arrhythmia.
Devgen has entered into partnerships with
industry leaders in biotechnology and agro chemistry.
Incorporated in 1997, Devgen has offices in Ghent (Belgium),
Singapore and Hyderabad (India), with a total work force of
about 100 people. Devgen is listed on Eurolist by Euronext
Brussels (ticker: DEVG) since June 2005.
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