Gowan Group acquires Brazilian Company Cross Link

Gowan Crop Protection Limited (Gowan) recently announced the acquisition of Cross Link Consultoria e Comércio Ltda (Cross Link), a family owned company involved in the distribution of agrochemicals throughout Brazil. Founded by Rogerio Gabriel, Cross Link has been the exclusive distributor of Gowan products in Brazil for over 25 years and has achieved annual revenues of approximately $17 million USD in 2018, with a primary focus on the fruit and vegetable market segments. Financial terms of this transaction are not being disclosed.

Olivier Deneufbourg, International Business General Manager for Gowan said, “This acquisition will significantly increase Gowan’s global market access. We foresee Brazil as one of the major sources of growth and a key country to elevate Latin America’s contribution to Gowan’s international business. It is a significant step to accelerate the development of Gowan’s product pipeline in Brazil and to allow our global partners to explore their opportunities in such a large market with confidence.” Mr. Deneufbourg added, “The Jessen family and Rogerio Gabriel have enjoyed a long-time friendship and I would like to thank Rogerio for his dedication and success in developing our products over the years.” Mr. Gabriel will continue to support the business for the next 12 months while Bertrand Desbrosses will assume management of the company in the long term.

The acquisition of Cross Link aligns well with Gowan’s overarching purpose to address growers’ critical crop protection needs that are too small for the big research companies to focus on and too difficult for the generic companies to handle. Gowan will be looking to strengthen Cross Link with more specialty products and technical solutions to help Brazilian farmers meet the increasing food chain standards for quality and competitive value. Mr. Deneufbourg concluded, “By combining Cross Link’s commercial expertise with Gowan’s Muddy Boots™ philosophy and marketing approach, we are creating differentiated value to our customers and partners as well as becoming a significant leader in the specialties crop segment.”