Monsanto Company to Acquire Emergent Genetics, Inc.
Monsanto Company announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Emergent Genetics, Inc., for $300 million. Monsanto intends to finance the transaction with cash and commercial paper. The addition of the Emergent Genetics brands completes a strategic cotton germplasm and traits platform modeled on the company's leading corn and soybean strategy, according to Hugh Grant, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Monsanto.
"We have a strong base business built on seeds and traits, and the addition of Emergent is expected to give us a complementary cotton platform that, with the planned acquisition of Seminis, we believe will allow us to accelerate our growth," said Grant. "This is our second major strategic acquisition recently and now we believe we have the elements we need to achieve our goals. Over the next year we'll focus on three areas: execution of our business plans, assimilation of these new businesses, and replenishing our balance sheet."
Through its Stoneville and NexGen brands, Emergent Genetics is the third largest cotton seed company in the United States, holding approximately 12 percent of the U.S. cotton seed market.
Building from Emergent's strong business foundation, Monsanto will work to apply its biotechnology traits and molecular breeding capabilities to accelerate the speed at which new stacked-trait and second-generation products reach cotton producers, according to Grant.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals, and is expected to close as soon as practical. The deal does not include Emergent Vegetable A/S, which is based in Denmark.
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