Origin Agritech announces shareholder approval of sale of commercial corn seed production and distribution business

Origin Agritech Ltd. announced the shareholders of the company voted to approve the agreement to sell its proprietary China-based commercial corn seed production and distribution business to Beijing Shihui Agricultural Development Co, Ltd ("Beijing Shihui") at a special general meeting of shareholders held at the company's office in Des Moines, Iowa today. This transaction was originally announced on September 27, 2016.

This transaction is expected to close in second half of 2017, subject to the satisfaction of certain customary closing conditions.

"This sale represents a critical milestone in repositioning Origin's commercial seed business for stronger future growth," said Dr. Bill Niebur, Origin CEO. "With approval from our shareholders, the new company will focus on further enhancing our leading agricultural biotechnology and corn seed breeding programs. As previously indicated, the proceeds will enable the company to accelerate the licensing of our biotech traits and elite seed germplasm to industry partners in China and build out our international seed-tech company model."

Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing, is China's leading agricultural biotechnology company, specializing in crop seed breeding and genetic improvement, seed production, processing, distribution, and related technical services. Leading the development of crop seed biotechnologies, Origin Agritech's phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive the Bio-Safety Certificate from China's Ministry of Agriculture. Over the years, Origin has established a robust biotechnology seed pipeline including products with glyphosate tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits. Origin operates production centers, processing centers and breeding stations nationwide with sales centers located in key crop-planting regions. Product lines are vertically integrated for corn, rice and canola seeds.