AgrEvo buys Cargills US seeds business

29 September 1998

AgrEvo buys Cargill’s US seeds business

AGREVO, the German agrochemical company jointly owned by Hoechst and Schering, is paying $650 million (£390m) for the US seed operations of Cargill, the privately owned agribusiness company.

The move gives AgrEvo its first US-based seed operation. The company has existing partnership arrangements with some of the biggest suppliers of genetically-altered seed in the US. It claims its technology is used in a large proportion of the insect-tolerant corn sold in North America.

Cargill sold its international seed business to Monsanto for $1.4bn in June.

Gerhard Prante, AgrEvo chairman, said: “Secured access to elite germplasm means we can fuel the market expansion of our Liberty Link, StarLink and SeedLink and other technologies.”

Liberty Link is a brand name for corn and canola seed genetically-altered, using AgrEvo technology, to tolerate a particular fertiliser. StarLink is a product designed to protect against insect damage.

The Cargill business has about a 4% share of the US corn seed market and is a leading supplier of sunflower seed. Its sales in the year to the end of May were $106m.

• Financial Times 29/09/98 page 35