In addition to paying $1 billion in cash for Seminis, Monsanto said it would assume $400 million in the company`s debt.
25/01/05 Agribusiness giant Monsanto has bought Seminis, the world’s largest vegetable seed company for $1 billion. In addition to paying $1 billion in cash, Monsanto said it would assume $400 million in Seminis debt and make a performance-based payment of up to $125 million payable by the end of the 2007 fiscal year. Monsanto’s pesticide and herbicide business has decline with the rise of insect- and disease-resistant strains of crops. So it has been expanding into seeds, especially genetically modified varieties. "The value in the agriculture industry has shifted dramatically away from chemicals and into seeds," Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant told analysts and investors in a conference call. Seminis is the supplier of more than 3,500 seed varieties to commercial fruit and vegetable growers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers in more than 150 countries.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-seeds25jan25,1,4268953.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true
