Vilmorin Acquires Bisco Biosciences

Date:03-19-2013

In May 2012, LIMAGRAIN, through its seeds holding VILMORIN & Co., took a majority stake of 61 % into the Company BISCO BIO SCIENCES Pvt Ltd., and ATASH Seeds Pvt Ltd, previously owns directly by VILMORIN & Co.,  became a full subsidiary of BISCO.

 Since then, a transition process went on in order to integrate the activities of BISCO, ATASH and LIMAGRAIN into one single Operation in India.

 Having witnessed the benefits of a fully integrated approach in the strategic domain of R&D where it is already implemented since May 2012, and comforted by the early gains already harvested in the other domains, Govind Prasad RAJGARHIA, Nishant RAJ and LIMAGRAIN have jointly decided that it was in the company’s best interest to accelerate the global integration at the full company level, and invited LIMAGRAIN to take full control of the Company. The transaction was completed end of February.

 During the last decades, under the management of the Promoters, BISCO has been able to become an important player in the seed industry, recognized as such by farmers and competitors alike. At this very important moment in the history of the Company, Mr. Daniel CHERON, CEO of LIMAGRAIN expressed his gratitude to the founders and developers of BISCO during his visit to the corporate headquarters I HYDERABAD a few weeks ago.

 LIMAGRAIN is a cooperative of 3500 French Farmers and 8000 employees, specialized in seed production. Active in 32 countries through subsidiaries, with total revenue in 2011/2012 of 12,488 Crores, LIMAGRAIN is ranking Nr 4 among the Seed Industry with a very strong position in Maize, Wheat, Sunflower and Vegetable Seeds.

 This acquisition in India shall allow LIMAGRAIN to address the needs of the Indian Farmers. BISCO will beneficiate from the germplasm, the expertise and technologies of LIMAGRAIN, and LIMAGRAIN will build its growth in India around the existing structures and marketing network of BISCO.

 It has already been decided to increase the Research & Development effort in India knowing that LIMAGRAIN invest 13 % of its revenue in R&D. BISCO has currently 9 Research stations in India, dedicated to Hybrid Maize, Hybrid Paddy, Sunflower, Pearl Millet and Sorghum, and a new Biotech Lab is launched in Yellampet, A.P.

Combined with the activity of CLAUSE (India) and its recently acquired subsidiary CENTURY Seeds Pvt Ltd, LIMAGRAIN expects to become one of the 3 top seed players in India by 2020.