Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta has announced an offer to acquire Belgian hybrid seed firm Devgen, for EUR403m, as a part of its plan to strengthen its presence in rice business.
The takeover bid is for all the outstanding shares of Devgen, at EUR16 for each share, which represents a premium of 70% to Devgen's closing price of EUR9.43 on 20 September 2012. Syngenta also plans to acquire all the outstanding warrants issued by Devgen.
Devgen, which markets its products primarily in Europe, the US, India, and South East Asia, offers hybrid rice varieties that have been engineered to resist disease.
The company offers crop protection solutions - it produces novel nematicide, an agro-chemical product that protect various crops such as potato, carrots, cucumber, melons, bananas, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and peanuts.
Devgen also specializes in insect control based on RNAi - a naturally occurring mechanism used for the regulation of specific genes.
Syngenta COO Davor Pisk said the deal will significantly strengthen the company's global position in rice, allowing it to expand its portfolio by offering the next generation of hybrid rice.
"Rice is critical to global food security and we expect to make a key contribution to improving productivity," Pisk added.
Syngenta noted that the deal has been approved by the board of directors of Devgen and is already supported by several major shareholders who hold approximately 48% of all shares. The company plans to delist Devgen from the NYSE Euronext Brussels exchange upon the completion of the transaction.
