Agro-Company Mergers, Acquisitions & Collaborations in 2012 (part 2)

• Certis U.S.A. and Kumiai Chemical Industry announced the global launch of a new generation of bacterial biofungicides based on Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747 (Ba D747).

• Chemtura has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the bromine assets of Solaris ChemTech Industries Limited.

• Coromandel International has upped its stake in agrochemical manufacturer Sabero Organics by over 5 percentage points to just below 75% in the March quarter.

• Crystal Crop Protection acquired brand pesticide Luphos-36 (active ingredient: monocrotophos) from Mumbai based Cheminova India.

• Crystal Crop Protection Private has acquired Rohini Seeds Private Limited.

• Dodson Pest Control has acquired Scott's Pest Control, Florence, S.C.

• Dow AgroSciences entered an agreement with the Victoria Department of Primary Industries in Australia to develop novel plant genetic tools.

• Dow AgroSciences and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) signed agreement to discover and develop new traits for crop improvement.

• Dow AgroSciences and The Royal Barenbrug Group announced a global strategic relationship for the development and commercialization of advanced germplasm in forage seeds.

• Dow AgroSciences and Agdia signed agreement to develop and commercialize a novel device that will fully automate the analysis of plants and seeds using immunoassay strips.

• Dow AgroSciences and Dualsystems Biotech signed agreement that will use drug profiling platform to identify molecular targets for an undisclosed small molecule lead candidate in Dow AgroSciences’ agrochemical discovery program.

• Dow AgroSciences has divested its European Dithane fungicide business to Indofil Industries Ltd.

• Dow AgroSciences and BioDuro, announced a three-year, multi-program discovery research agreement to generate novel molecules for synthesizing and testing fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides across a variety of crops.

• Dow AgroSciences and Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Ecology (IME) collaborated on multiple projects to develop novel biotechnology approaches to improve and enhance crops.

• Dow AgroSciences has acquired the assets of Cal/West Seeds based in Woodland, Calif.

• DuPont Pioneer and Bunge North America announced they will work with farmers near Bunge's facility in Delphos, Ohio, to grow Plenish® high oleic soybeans in 2013.

• DuPont Pioneer and Archer Daniels Midland Company announced that ADM will contract for Plenish™ high oleic soybeans in 2013 with the intention of marketing the high oleic soybean oil for use by the food industry in 2014.

• DuPont and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) have expanded their long-standing research collaboration to increase research scale on improving the overall productivity of wheat, as well as other crops.

• DuPont has joined the DROught-Tolerant Plants (DROPS) Research Consortium, contributing expertise and a state-of-the-art modeling platform for maize research for use by the consortium.

• DuPont Crop Protection (DCP) in India signed a memorandum of understanding for a distribution alliance with the Punjab State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited.

• Eden Research expanded its collaborative efforts with Certis Europe BV to investigate additional product applications, including using Eden's proprietary encapsulation technology with an existing agrochemical.

• Eurofins Scientific announces the planned acquisition of the Quality Trait Analysis (QTA®) business of BASF.

• Evogene Ltd. announced completion of an expansion program of its R&D facilities, resulting in a greater than 50% increase in the company's gene validation & plant growth capacity.

• Exosect announced that it has secured an exclusive license for an isolate of the entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana (Bb) from Fera, the UK’s Food, Environment and Research Agency.

• FMC will co-develop with Isagro S.p.A for a new proprietary fungicide.

• FMC signed agreement with Kumiai Chemical to extend access to the active ingredient pyroxasulfone (KIH-485).

• FMC signed agreements with East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) and Shanghai Shengnong Pesticide Co. Ltd. (SSPC) to develop and commercialize a new neonicotinoid insecticide cycloxaprid.

• FMC and Consumo em Verde (CEV) signed agreement for the unique patented fungicidal active ingredient, which has a new mode of action.

• FMC has signed a perpetual, global licensing agreement, along with distribution and services agreements with GAT Microencapsulation AG covering a range of advanced crop protection products and proprietary formulation technologies.

• GreenLeaf Genetics LLC has acquired JGL, Inc., a leading seed genetics licensing company focused on soybean and wheat genetics licensing to the seed industry.

• Hebei Veyong Bio-Chemical plans to fully acquire Xinneng Mining from controlling shareholder, Xinao Investment Holding.

• Chinese company Huapont Pharm acquired 58.26% stake in Hangzhou Qingfeng Agro-Chemical Co., Ltd at a cost of Yuan 58.08 million.

• INCOTEC and KeyGene announce their strategic collaboration on DNA based Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) - technology.

• INCOTEC and Eurofins STA Laboratories have agreed to join forces to promote ESTA's seed health testing capabilities to the European seed market.

• Insecticide India announced a marketing tie-up with Japan-based Nissan Chemicals to distribute latter's fungicide, which prevents sheath blight in rice, in India.

• Interfarm is the new sole UK supplier for a range of cereal products including three PGRs, Cerone, Upgrade and Strate and the cleaver herbicide Eagle from Bayer CropScience UK.

• Isagro USA has announced two separate distribution arrangements for its proprietary Trichoderma biorational fungicide, effectively splitting marketing responsibilities between agricultural and turf/ornamental markets.

• Koppert Biological Systems has reached an agreement with Itaforte BioProdutos regarding the takeover of 100% of Itaforte's share.

• The Makhteshim Agan Group and NRGENE announced a collaboration agreement.

• Marina Biotech has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Monsanto for Marina Biotech's delivery and chemistry technologies.

• Marrone Bio Innovations has acquired an 11,400-square-foot manufacturing facility on 11 acres in Bangor, Michigan.

• MGK purchased assets of sabadilla, a botanical insecticide derived from a Central and South American lily, Schoenocaulon officinale, from California-based Dunhill Chemical Company.

• Monsanto reached an agreement to purchase planting technology developer Precision Planting, Inc.

• Monsanto and Complix NV entered into a collaboration agreement to evaluate and develop Complix’s proprietary Alphabody® protein technology in the field of agriculture.

• Monsanto and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals have formed a strategic alliance to advance biological technologies in the field of agriculture.

• Monsanto and the Illinois Crop Improvement Association (IL Crop) have added one more trait technology to the parties’ trait introgression services agreement.

• Chinese company Nantong Jiangshan Agrochemical and Chemical announced to acquire a controlling 90% stake in Thailand LADDA Group at no more than RMB 210 million.

• Nichino America reached agreement with Engage Agro which will register, market, and sell fenpyroximate, flutolanil, tolfenpyrad, and buprofezin products in Canada.

• Nufarm Italia has signed a non-exclusive distribution contract with Sumitomo Chemical Italia.

• Nufarm and Starpharma Holdings Ltd announced the signing of an agreement under which the parties will apply Starpharma’s Priostar® dendrimer technology to develop innovative crop protection formulations for Nufarm’s product portfolio.

• Nufarm and Sumitomo Chemical announced that new distribution arrangements between the two companies have been put in place for Canada and three European countries -- Hungary, Romania and Ukraine.

• Nufarm Italia has signed a non-exclusive distribution contract with Sumitomo Chemical Italia.

to be continued……