Eco Soil Systems Inc. today announced that it has completed the sale of substantially all of the assets of its Turf Partners subsidiary to the J.R. Simplot Company. 

The total purchase price of $61.5 million that Simplot paid for Turf Partners' assets included a cash payment of $23 million, and the assumption of Turf Partners' bank debt and existing vendor payables totaling $38.5 million. Simplot also assumed substantially all of Turf Partners' contracts and leases. 

After paying the costs related to the sale, repaying the $3 million working capital loan made by Simplot prior to completion of the asset sale and repaying outstanding long-term debt, Eco Soil expects to retain approximately $5 million of the cash proceeds for working capital purposes. 

In addition to closing the sale, Eco Soil and Simplot entered into two distribution and supply agreements. In the first agreement, Simplot agreed to purchase a minimum of $5 million of FreshPack(TM) product during the first two years of its five-year term. In the second agreement, Simplot agreed to perform a market test of Eco Soil's proprietary products in 10 of Simplot's SoilBuilders stores. Eco Soil and Simplot also entered into a field trial agreement pursuant to which Simplot will commence field trials of Eco Soil's proprietary products on its potato fields. 

William B. Adams, Eco Soil's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: ``We expect that these distribution agreements and the field trials agreement with Simplot will enhance our proprietary product sales in both the agriculture and turf markets. In agriculture, we expect the Simplot agreements will expand our distribution channels for proprietary products into the sizable corn, cotton and potato markets. The proprietary products will include Eco Soil's EPA approved BioJect® system, the FreshPack(TM) product line and a new low-cost hybrid of the BioJect® and FreshPack(TM) products designed to service the agriculture market.'' 

Eco Soil develops, markets and sells proprietary biological and traditional chemical products that provide solutions for a wide variety of turf and crop maintenance problems in the golf and agricultural industries. Its proprietary products evolve from the BioJect®, a patented and EPA approved device that cultures and dispenses biological products through irrigation systems, and are sold under the FreshPack(TM) or the BioJect® brands.

Company news release
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