E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DD) announced that DuPont Pioneer, the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics has decided to sell its alfalfa production and research facility assets, as well as all conventional alfalfa germplasm to S&W Seed Company.
Headquartered in the Central Valley of California. S&W Seed Company is a global agricultural company and the largest producer of non-dormant alfalfa seed varieties in the world. The company has production operations in the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys of California, as well as in South Australia. The purchase price for the acquisition is up to $49 million.
The sale will be completed over a period of several years. The first portion of the sale is expected to be complete by Dec 31, 2014, subject to meeting the closing conditions.
Per the agreement, S&W will acquire DuPont Pioneer alfalfa assets at DuPont Pioneer locations in Nampa, ID and Arlington, WI. The company will also provide employment to the staff of alfalfa research and production. With the acquisition, S&W will be the global leader in alfalfa seed, with unrivaled research and development, production and distribution capabilities.
On the other hand, DuPont Pioneer will continue to sell Pioneer brand alfalfa products to customers globally. DuPont Pioneer will also focus on developing new products that will enable it to drive growth both in the short and long term.
Recently, DuPont also announced that its Performance Polymers business landed an agreement to dispose its Neoprene polychloroprene product line to Denka Performance Elastomer LLC, a new joint venture that is owned 70% by Japan-based chemicals maker Denka with Mitsui holding the remaining stake. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the entities.
DuPont currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the chemical space include Valhi, Inc. (VHI), Innospec Inc. (IOSP) and Celanese Corp. (CE). While both Innospec and Valhi hold a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Celanese carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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