Bayer CropScience has announced today (4 July) that it has signed an agreement to purchase US-based biological pest management solutions expert AgraQuest for approximately US$425m (€340m) plus milestone payments, subject to approval by regulatory authorities.
According to Bayer, the acquisition will allow it to build a leading technology platform for green products while strengthening its fruit and vegetable business, as well as opening up new opportunities in other crops and markets.
In purchasing AgraQuest, Bayer CropScience inherits an extensive product portfolio including brands such as Serenade, Rhapsody, Sonata and Ballad fungicides and Requiem insecticides.
'The growing fruits and vegetables market, which today accounts for more than 25 per cent of our sales, is of strategic importance for us,' said Sandra Peterson, CEO of Bayer CropScience. 'We plan to achieve €3bn sales in this segment by 2020 and with the acquisition of AgraQuest we are underlining our growth ambitions. We are the first in our industry to offer farmers a truly comprehensive range of integrated crop solutions based on seeds, traits and combined chemical crop protection and biological control.'
AgraQuest's products are far-reaching, available in over 30 countries across the Americas and Europe, and are used in several market segments including fruits and vegetables, broad-acre crops, post-harvest protection, turf, home and garden and animal health.
'We are proud to become part of Bayer CropScience,' said AgraQuest CEO Marcus Meadows-Smith. 'AgraQuest is ideally positioned as a technology leader in the global biological market and by joining forces with Bayer CropScience will also leverage AgraQuest's technology platform and its promising pipeline of new biological control agents.
'Through the acquisition Bayer CropScience will integrate AgraQuest's state-of-the-art biopesticides production facility in Tlaxcala, Mexico, as well as the company's R&D site in Davis (California).'
