Groupe Limagrain of Chappes, France and KWS SAAT AG of Einbeck, Germany announced today their intent to merge their North American corn and soybean operations. 

The corn breeding operations of the two companies will be combined into a program that is equally owned by KWS and Limagrain. This combined breeding program, which will begin operations immediately, will be one of the five leading corn breeding programs in North America. 

Separate joint ventures will be established in the United States and Canada for sales and production activities in corn, soybeans and alfalfa. The businesses being contributed to the joint ventures are currently operated by Limagrain Genetics Corp. and Great Lakes Hybrids in the
United States and Limagrain Genetics Inc. in Canada. 

Both joint ventures will begin commercial operations on July 1, 2000 and will continue to market high quality seed products under the Agrigold, Great Lakes, LG-Callahan, and Pride brand names throughout the corn growing regions of the US and Canada with each brand being marketed
through its current organization and distribution network.

The US company will be headquartered in Indianapolis and the Canadian company will be headquartered in Chatham, Ontario. KWS and Limagrain will each appoint the same number of representatives to the governing boards. KWS will own one third of each joint venture with the option to increase to 50% ownership. Combined sales of the joint ventures at start up will
be approximately $80 million USD.

E. Joe Dahmer, Senior Vice President and General Manager of KWS' North American operations, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of the joint ventures. "Both KWS and Limagrain share a common philosophy of independence and research leadership," said Dahmer. "They both are
committed to investing in research to develop germplasm and making it available to the farmer in industry-leading products. Developing top performing products and supplying them to our customers through our network of professional dealers and salesmen will be the central goal of
the new company."

Raphael Journel, President and CEO of Limagrain Genetics Corp., has been appointed President and CEO of the joint ventures. "Limagrain and KWS have 20 years of experience in conducting corn research and breeding in the United States and Canada," said Journel. "The joining of the two programs combines complementary germplasm and provides outstanding product development potential. This joint research effort will be the key to our commercial success and will allow us to rapidly expand our line up of top-performing hybrids to the farmer."

GROUPE LIMAGRAIN, headquartered in Chappes, France, is an international seed breeding and marketing company with world-wide sales of over $900 Million USD and more than 4,600 employees.

KWS SAAT AG, headquartered in Einbeck, Germany, is an international seed breeding and marketing company with world-wide sales of over $350 Million USD and more than 2,000 employees.

LIMAGRAIN GENETICS CORP. based in Peoria, Illinois is the US subsidiary of Groupe Limagrain and the marketer of the LG, CALLAHAN and AGRIGOLD brand products.

LIMAGRAIN GENETICS INC. based in Chatham, Ontario, is the Canadian subsidiary of Groupe Limagrain and the marketer of PRIDE brand products. 

GREAT LAKES HYBRIDS, Inc. based in Ovid, Michigan, is a US subsidiary of KWS and the marketer of the GREAT LAKES brand products.

Company news release
N2405