Pasteuria Bioscience to be Acquired by Syngenta

ALACHUA, Fla., Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pasteuria Bioscience has announced that it will be acquired by Syngenta, one of the world's leading agricultural technology companies.  In 2011 Syngenta and Pasteuria Bioscience entered into a global exclusive technology partnership to produce nematode control products based on Pasteuria spp., a naturally-occurring soil bacteria long recognized as a promising biological control agent against nematodes.  The first products resulting from this relationship will be available in 2014.

Under terms of the agreement, Syngenta will acquire Pasteuria Bioscience for aggregate payments of $86 million, plus up to $27 million in deferred payments.

"Pasteuria Bioscience is excited to become part of the Syngenta team.  We've been working closely together over the past year and have made significant progress on a number of nematode control products in a variety of crops.  Syngenta recognizes the potential with the Pasteuria platform and can commercialize it in a broad range of products for the global marketplace," said Al Kern, Executive Chairman and President of Pasteuria Bioscience.

Nematodes are a major pest across all crops and there are few commercial products available making it one of agriculture's largest unmet pest control needs.  This acquisition will facilitate the introduction of key products, including a seed treatment product for Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) which will complement Syngenta's existing nematicide line. 

"Results from our partnership have shown that Pasteuria provides superior control of nematodes in a wide variety of applications.  Pasteuria Bioscience has developed critical knowhow for in vitro production of Pasteuria, enabling commercial scale manufacturing.  This is a further example of our strategy to incorporate biological controls within our integrated offer to growers," said John Atkin, COO of Syngenta.

About Pasteuria Bioscience

Pasteuria Bioscience, Inc., was founded in 2003 in the University of Florida's Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator where it remains headquartered.  The company was developed to commercialize its revolutionary technology for production of biological nematode control products based on the Pasteuria platform.  The first Pasteuria-based product, Econem^®, was commercialized in 2010 for sting nematode control in the golf and sports turf markets.  Pasteuria Bioscience is also developing products to treat major nematode pests in most agricultural crops such as soybean, sugar beet and cotton as well as in specialty crops such as fruits and vegetables.  For more information, visit the Pasteuria Bioscience web site at http://www.pasteuriabio.com.

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Learn more about Syngenta http://www.syngenta.com.

SOURCE Pasteuria Bioscience