Mitsui & Co. to acquire 62% of the shares of Belchim Crop Protection

Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Tatsuo Yasunaga) has agreed to acquire 62% of the shares of Belchim Crop Protection NV/SA ("BCP", Head Office: Belgium), a European agrochemical company, from BCP's founder, Belchim Management NV/SA ("BM", Head Office: Belgium), through Mitsui's wholly owned subsidiary Mitsui AgriScience International SA/NV ("MASI", Head Office: Belgium). Once all relevant conditions including antitrust approval have been fulfilled, MASI will acquire 30% of the shares held by BM, making BCP its consolidated subsidiary. The remaining 32% of shares will be acquired in or after February 2021.

BCP is engaged in the development and distribution of crop protection products of its other shareholders, ISK Biosciences Europe N.V. (Head Office: Belgium, 28% shareholding in BCP) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd. (Head Office: Nishi-ku, Osaka Prefecture, Executive Director and President: Kenichi Tanaka) and Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo Prefecture, President and CEO: Satoshi Ozawa). BCP has built robust distribution platforms in Europe and North America. Since BCP's business activities are in alignment with the growth strategies of Mitsui's agrochemical business that are the expansion of its product portfolio and the strengthening of its distribut ion platforms, Mitsui made a decision to acquire the shares in the company.

Mitsui has identified "Nutrition and Agriculture" as one of its key growth areas in its Medium-term Management Plan. Mitsui has built trust-based relationships with its customers and partners around the world in the business of supplying agrochemicals, fertilizers, seeds, and other agricultural supplies that contribute to improving the productivity and quality of agricultural produce.

In the area of agrochemicals, Mitsui acquired a distribution company in the Netherlands in 1992. Since then Mitsui has expanded the agrochemicals business in Europe through a subsidiary, Certis Europe B.V. ("CE EU", Head Office: Netherlands, Shareholding ratio: 75.3%), in which MASI has jointly invested with Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Akira Ishii, 20.3% shareholding in CE EU) and Kumiai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Taito-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Yoshitomo Koike, 4.4% shareholding in CE EU). In the United States, Mitsui has been developing business through Certis USA L.L.C. (Head Office: USA), which manufactures and distributes biological pesticides. Mitsui has also started to build a significant presence in the Brazilian market through the investment in the agrochemical company Ouro Fino Química Ltda (Head Office: Brazil) in February 2019.

Through this investment in BCP, Mitsui will further strengthen its distribution platforms for agrochemicals, while also contributing to the advancement of agriculture.