Shortly after handing over responsibility for biorational-related business to its Valent BioSciences (VBC) subsidiary in Illinois, Sumitomo Chemical has announced plans to establish SynBio Hub within its Biorational Research Centre. This is all part of the firm’s plans to build technologies using synthetic biology.
Israel’s ICL has agreed to acquire Fertiláqua, one of Brazil’s largest speciality plant nutrition companies from private equity firm Aqua Capital for about $120 million. The company said that this will expand its portfolio and significantly enhance its customer base and presence across agriculture regions in Brazil.
India's UPL, which is now the world’s fifth largest agrochemical firm, has announced the opening of its ‘OpenAg Centre’ in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company has already begun recruiting the 30 agricultural scientists and technical staff who will staff it.
Bayer has made a series of agreements that, it said, “will substantially resolve” major outstanding Monsanto litigation at a cost it up to $5 billion in 2020, the same in 2021 and any more outstanding amounts in 2022. These have been unanimously approved by its board.
Most significantly, the company will pay $8.8-9.6 billion to resolve about 75% of the ongoing litigation related to the Roundup brand of glyphosate under a series of agreements. These contain no admission of liability or wrongdoing.
Syngenta Group, which describes itself as “a new global leader in agricultural science and innovation”, was formally launched on 18 June. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, it combines Syngenta itself, Israel’s Adama and the agricultural businesses of Sinochem, based in China.
The new entity has 15 production sites and 100 R&D sites, with 48,000 employees in more than 100 countries, turning over $23 billion in 2019. Erik Fyrwald, CEO of Syngenta, will remain as CEO of the group, with former Adama CEO Chen Lichtenstein as CFO. The group has four business units:
Syngenta Group, which describes itself as “a new global leader in agricultural science and innovation”, was formally launched on 18 June. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, it combines Syngenta itself, Israel’s Adama and the agricultural businesses of Sinochem, based in China.
The new entity has 15 production sites and 100 R&D sites, with 48,000 employees in more than 100 countries, turning over $23 billion in 2019. Erik Fyrwald, CEO of Syngenta, will remain as CEO of the group, with former Adama CEO Chen Lichtenstein as CFO. The group has four business units:
