Novozymes to buy EMD/Merck Crop BioScience

Novozymes, the world's leading maker of industrial enzymes, is acquiring US based EMD/Merck Crop BioScience for $275 million from Merck KGaA. EMD/Merck Crop BioScience is a leading developer of natural inoculants used by farmers to improve plant health and crop yields, NovoZymes said in a statement. "The acquisition strengthens our presence in the growing field of agricultural biologicals, and the complementary business of EMD/Merck Crop BioScience's has a strong strategic fit with our existing BioAg business," Steen Riisgaard, President & CEO of Novozymes said in a statement.

"Sustainable products and technologies will in the future play an even greater role in the agricultural industry as they allow effective and more sustainable ways to grow crops," Riisgaard said. EMD/Merck Crop BioSciencE's products are applied to crops, including soybean, pulse crops, forage crops, peanuts, corn, and wheat, sold in the US, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, Novozymes said in the statement. The company had an average annual growth rate of about 15 per cent over the last seven years and expects 2010 sales of about $60m, it said. Its EBIT margins were supportive of Novozymes' long-term expectations of more than 20 per cent, Novozymes said.