Mitsui & Co. to acquire Ireland agrochem firm AgriGuard

Mitsui & Co., Ltd ("Mitsui") announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of AgriGuard Holdings Ltd ("Agriguard"), a company manufacturing and distributing off-patent crop protection products in Ireland through Mitsuis wholly owned subsidiary Mitsui AgriScience International SA/NV ("MASI").

Agriguard manufactures and distributes off-patent agrichemicals for arable crops such as cereals and oilseed rape mainly in the U.K. market. MASI, the strategic holding company of Mitsuis European agrichemical business, centers its business on distributing proprietary products (insecticides and fungicides) from Japanese manufacturers for horticulture crops such as fruits and vegetables. This acquisition combines Agriguards expertise and product range in agrichemicals for arable crops (herbicides) with MASIs expertise in agrichemicals for horticulture. Together, by widening the selection of products, MASI will be able to further strengthen its sales in both horticulture and arable crop markets.

Mitsui also operates Certis USA, a company manufacturing and globally distributing biological pesticides. Mitsui will continue to focus on offering a combination of quality agrichemicals and biological pesticides to global customers. Mitsuis AgriScience Business aims to grow its agrichemical business to USD 1 billion within the next 3-5 years.