St. Louis, Missouri
December 2, 2008
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced that it has completed
its proposed acquisition of Aly Participacoes Ltda., which
operates the sugarcane breeding and technology companies,
CanaVialis S.A. and
Alellyx S.A., both of
which are based in Brazil.
Monsanto's $290 million (R$616 million) acquisition of Aly
Participacoes Ltda. from Votorantim Novos Negocios Ltda. and its
sister company, Votorantim Industrial S.A., was consummated with
existing excess cash.
CanaVialis is the world's largest private sugarcane breeding
company. Through its breeding activities, CanaVialis is
developing and commercializing proprietary germplasm, or a
plant's genetic raw material, that is anticipated to bring
significant yields to sugarcane over publicly available
varieties.
Alellyx is an applied genomics company that is focused on
developing biotech traits primarily for sugarcane. Their
location and expertise in Brazil are especially important, as
Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugarcane, the largest
exporter of finished sugar, and the world's second-largest
producer of ethanol after the United States.
"We look forward to working with our new colleagues at
CanaVialis and Alellyx to combine our areas of breeding
expertise to enhance yields in sugarcane, a crop that is vital
to addressing growing global food and fuel demands," said Carl
Casale, executive vice president of global strategy and
operations for Monsanto.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and
large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while
conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water
and energy. |
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