Agro-Company Mergers, Acquisitions & Collaborations in 2012 (part 3)

• Otsuka AgriTechno and Gowan Company signed a memorandum for exclusive distribution of Otsuka's product Acaritouch for Canada.

• Otsuka AgriTechno acquired Bayer CropScience’s business, including assets and commercial rights, in benzofenap, a rice-cultivation herbicide, for an unspecified sum.

• Oxitec and Certis Europe have entered into a research collaboration to develop, test and review commercial opportunities for Oxitec’s RIDL® technology on Tuta absoluta.

• Plant Health Care has signed a research agreement with Arysta LifeScience to evaluate Harpin commercially as a foliar spray in combination with a number of Arysta LifeScience’s products.

• Plant Health Care has signed an agreement with MANA Crop Protection to combine PHC’s dry formulated Harpin αβ protein technology for use as a foliar spray in corn, soybeans, and dry beans with select MANA technologies in the USA.

• Plant Impact and Gowan have entered into an exclusive agreement for the distribution of Plant Impact's leading crop enhancement product InCa® Prim in France.

• Plant Impact and Agrovista UK have entered into an exclusive agreement for the distribution and marketing of Plant Impact's leading crop enhancement product, InCa®.

• Rallis India has acquired 22.8% stake in the Maharashtra-based Zero Waste Agro Organics for Rs 10 crore.

• SDS Biotech has acquired 65% stake in agri input maker Sree Ramcides.

• SDS Biotech K.K. reached an agreement with Gowan to extend their exclusive evaluation agreement to include key rice growing areas in the European Union.

• SDS Biotech and its majority shareholder Idemitsu Kosan have started joint research projects to establish a commercial production process for SDS’s newly developed microbial fungicide as well as to create a new type of agrochemical by blending the two companies’ active ingredients.

• SePRO Corporation has completed final transactions in the acquisition of Tessenderlo Kerley Inc.'s aquatic herbicide business.

• SGS has acquired the Ware Care Group in the Netherlands.

• Recently a joint chemical safety lab was unveiled in Shenyang as launched between Shengyang Sciencreat Chemicals and HEL Group based in UK.

• Sinochem International announced that it intends to add not more than CNY 1.63 billion capital to acquire 61.66 million shares of Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Group.

• A unit of Sinochem Corp is in talks with Monsanto about cooperation in tapping China's vegetable-seed market.

• Sumitomo Chemical and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium are working closely together in developing a new insecticide-impregnated mosquito net to address the growing problem of insecticide resistant mosquitoes.

• Sumitomo Chemical announced that its three Indian subsidiaries, Sumitomo Chemical India Private Limited, SC Enviro Agro India Private Limited (SCEAI), and New Chemi Industries Limited (NCI) have been merged to establish a new company.

• Sumitomo Chemical announced that McLaughlin Gormley King Company has become a consolidated subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical.

• Sumitomo Corporation announces that Sumi Agro Europe Ltd., Sumitomo Corporation's 100% subsidiary engaged in the sales of agricultural chemicals, and Sipcam S.p.A formed a strategic capital alliance by mutually acquiring 10% of the outstanding shares of their newly established holding companies, namely Sumi Agro Limited and Sipcam Europe S.p.A.

• S&W Seed Company has acquired Imperial Valley Seeds, a marketer of non-dormant alfalfa seed varieties to international markets.

• SynTech Research is acquiring Bayer CropScience's state-of-the-art US Ecotoxicology capability at the Bayer Research Park near Stilwell, Kansas.

• Syngenta and Griffin Greenhouse Supplies signed an agreement to acquire the Syngenta Horticultural Services (SHS) distribution and brokerage business.

• Syngenta has agreed to acquire a US-based biotechnology company Pasteuria Bioscience, Inc.

• Syngenta has agreed to buy the DuPont Professional Products insecticide business for $125 million to expand its range of products for golf course and lawn care professionals, and to strengthen its portfolio for the control of home pests.

• Syngenta and Sun Gro Horticulture Ltd. signed agreement to acquire the Fafard peat unit of the Lawn and Garden business.

• Syngenta signed a sweet sorghum market development agreement with Ceres Sementes do Brasil Ltda.

• Syngenta and Novozymes signed exclusive global marketing and distribution agreement to commercialize Taegro®, a fermented biological fungicide based on a naturally occurring bacterium Bacillus subtilis.

• Syngenta entered into a barley breeding collaboration with an Australian crop breeding company InterGrain.

• Syngenta and Buck Semillas signed agreement to exchange genetics, utilizing technology platforms and know-how to develop new wheat varieties.

• Syngenta and Devgen signed a six-year global license and research agreement to add RNA interference (RNAi) technology to Syngenta’s crop protection pipeline.

• Syngenta will work with Novozymes to commercialize the Novozymes technology JumpStart, a seed-applied biological which increases phosphate solubility in the soil.

• Terminix has acquired the pest and termite control service business of Schendel Pest Services.

• Tessenderlo Kerley announced the purchase of the crop protection assets of the global carbaryl business from Bayer CropScience.

• TJ Technologies have reached an agreement where Beck’s Superior Hybrid’s will treat seed corn with a proprietary formula designed specifically for Beck’s of the TJ Technologies QuickRoots seed treatment.

• The Two Blades Foundation announced the completion of a non-exclusive license for the TAL code genome engineering technology to Mendel Biotechnology, Inc.

• The Two Blades Foundation and Monsanto have expanded their TAL Code licensing agreement.

• The Two Blades Foundation announced the completion of a nonexclusive license agreement with Bayer CropScience AG for access to the TAL Code technology for commercial uses in certain crop plants.

• TyraTech, Inc. has entered into a trademark licensing agreement with Terminix International Company.

• United Phosphorus Ltd is expanding its tie-up with Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha (ISK) of Japan to launch two new insecticides from the latter's global products portfolio in India this year.

• Valent U.S.A. announced an agreement with The Scotts Company on key active ingredients for the outdoor consumer lawn and garden market in the United States.

• Valent BioSciences signed a joint testing agreement with Pace International that will expand a screening and evaluation collaboration between the two companies into the area of biorational fungicides.

• Valent Canada announced that Nufarm will become a distributor for Valent agricultural, horticultural, industrial vegetative management (IVM) and biorational product lines in Canada.

• Valent BioSciences has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pace International LLC.

• Vilmorin has acquired the company Century Seeds, based in Delhi, India.

• Wilbur-Ellis Company announced it has acquired the assets of Mott Grain.

The end