Agro-Company Mergers, Acquisitions & Collaborations in 2012 (part 1)

• Chinese chemicals manufacturer, ABACHEM plans to launch a J/V with Jiangsu JIANNONG Agrochemical Co., Ltd., a pesticide manufacturer in Jiangsu Province.

• AEF Global and BioWorks signed biopesticides distribution agreement for North American market.

• AgraQuest and Premier Tech Home & Garden have agreed to terms for a supply agreement that will have AgraQuest produce and package fungicide products for the Green Earth line from Premier Tech Home & Garden for the Canadian retail market.

• Agrium Advanced Technologies announced the addition of Spread it & Forget it Controlled-Release Fertilizer with Barricade Pre-Emergent Herbicide (480g/L prodiamine) from Syngenta, in addition to Spread it & Forget it with Dimension Specialty Herbicide (dithiopyr) from Dow.

• Albaugh announced further expansion into the Canadian market with the purchase of the AgWest Group.

• Amvac Chemical Corporation has formed a new joint venture with natural life science company, TyraTech, Inc.

• AMVAC Chemical Corporation has licensed rights to Summit Chemical Corporation’s Bti Briquets for the global professional mosquito larvicide market.

• The biopesticide company Andermatt Biocontrol has acquired 24.9% of the shares of ABiTEP GmbH, which is specialized in the production of natural microbial products (soil borne bacteria) for the use in agriculture and horticulture.

• Anhui Huaxing Chemical announced a directional add-issuance plan which offers no less than 452 million shares to CEFC Shanghai Oil Group at Yuan 4.36 per share to raise fund up to an amount of Yuan 1.97 billion.

• Arcadia Biosciences and the U.S. Sugar Corporation signed an agreement to develop Nitrogen Use Efficient (NUE) and Water Efficient (WE) sugarcane.

• Arkema and Certis have entered into an exclusive joint development and distribution agreement in Europe for Paladin®, a new and innovative pre-plant fumigant for modern and sustainable soil pest control.

• Arysta LifeScience and Laboratoires Goëmar signed two agreements to develop and distribute Biostimulants and Biocontrol products.

• Arysta LifeScience has acquired 100% of the shares of Devidayal Sales Limited (“DSL”) in India.

• Arysta LifeScience and Chemtura AgroSolutions partnered in the fight against malaria.

• Arysta LifeScience signed agreement with Bayer CropScience for the global licensing and sale of fluoxastrobin, Bayer’s patented strobilurin fungicide.

• Arysta Life Science Pakistan will distribute and promote Dupont Pakistan Operations’s key fungicide CurzateR (active ingredients: copper oxychloride + cymoxanil) for potato and other high value crops.

• BASF plans to acquire Becker Underwood for a price of $1.02 billion (€785 million).

• BASF and Integrated Coatings and Seed Technology, Inc. signed agreement that will allow INCOTEC to treat brassica seeds with the BASF crop protection product Coronet® fungicide seed treatment.

• BASF signed agreement with Monsanto for fungicide seed treatments for cotton and soybeans in North America.

• BASF and COFCO Tunhe entered a strategic cooperation to develop and enhance sustainable tomato cultivation in China.

• BASF Plant Science cooperated with VIB on developing a novel technology to identify genes and gene networks that control crop yield.

• BASF will license its Clearfield® Plus herbicide tolerance technology for sunflowers to Syngenta.

• Bayer CropScience has acquired a Wheat Breeding Station in France, from the privately-owned company RAGT Semences S.A.S.

• Bayer CropScience has acquired innovative biological pest management solutions company AgraQuest, Inc.

• Bayer CropScience plans to purchase the watermelon and melon seed business of US seed company Abbott & Cobb Inc.

• Bayer CropScience has acquired the germplasm assets of ProSoy Genetics.

• Bayer CropScience and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. Hayward, Calif., announced a new multi-year collaboration to jointly identify herbicides with novel modes of action.

• Bayer CropScience and UK-based IVCC have extended their successful partnership to discover new active ingredients effective against mosquitoes.

• Bayer CropScience, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) have formed a partnership to increase yield in wheat.

• Bayer CropScience, Pioneer Hi-Bred signed exclusive agreement to provide EverGol Energy fungicide seed treatment to growers planting Pioneer brand soybeans.

• Bayer CropScience and KWS SAAT AG signed agreement to jointly develop and commercialize an innovative system of weed control in sugar beet for the global market.

• Bayer CropScience and Rosetta Green AG signed a licensing agreement that relates to a joint project in the discovery and characterization of microRNA genes that have potential to provide drought tolerance and improved yield in cotton.

• Bayer CropScience and Texas AgriLife Research signed a multi-year agreement to develop and commercialize improved wheat varieties.

• Bayer CropScience and Cellectis plant sciences signed agreement to collaborate on the use of Meganucleases in plants.

• Bayer CropScience and Engage Agro USA signed agreement to market Spin-Aid (active ingredient: phenmedipham), an herbicide for post-emergent control of broadleaf weeds in several vegetable crops.

• Bayer CropScience and Ag Growth International Inc. have entered into an agreement for the development and distribution of a state of the art on-farm seed treater for the North American market.

• Bio-ferm has granted Westbridge exclusive U.S. distribution rights of Blossom Protect™, a biological product used to combat fire blight infection in pome fruit (apple, pear and quince).

• Biopreparáty, spol. s r.o. and Gowan Company signed a commercial agreement for exclusive distribution of biofungicide Polyversum®.

to be continued……