Monsanto Agrees to Buy De Ruiter for $863 Million
Monsanto Agrees to Buy De Ruiter for $863 Million
Monsanto Agrees to Buy De Ruiter for $863 Million
Monsanto Co. agreed to acquire the
The deal is intended to enhance Monsanto's growth in the protected-culture segment, where seeds are germinated in controlled settings like greenhouses. Monsanto called it "the fastest-growing space within the vegetable seeds industry."
Chief Financial Officer Terry Crews said the deal -- which Monsanto intends to finance with cash -- is expected to add to Monsanto's results by the second-full fiscal year following the closing, for which no timeframe was announced. De Ruiter, which had 2007 sales of €108 million, is expected to help make Monsanto's vegetable-seed operations into a $1 billion business by 2012.
"This acquisition represents an opportunity to not only transform, but further grow our vegetable seed business in a high-value, fast-growing segment of the market," Mr. Crews said in a prepared statement.
De Ruiter Seeds President and Chief Executive Biense Visser will run that business, which will encompass all of Monsanto's protected-culture operations in the vegetable-seed space. De Ruiter works with crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, and focuses on breeding novel varieties for the protected-culture segment.
The announcement came just one week after Monsanto boosted its fiscal 2008 earnings guidance for the third time in as many months, citing seed sales and gains made by its herbicide business. The
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