Vilmorin, KWS license Syngenta GMO corn traits

Vilmorin & Cie SA

15/10/2015 12:05

PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - French seed group Vilmorin 
 VILM.PA  and German peer KWS SAAT  KWSG.DE  signed long-term 
licensing agreements with Syngenta  SYNN.VX  to use the Swiss 
chemical group's genetically modified (GMO) corn traits, they 
said on Thursday. 
    They will be allowed to market Syngenta's current and future 
corn (maize) traits on a separate basis or through their joint 
ventures AgReliant, which sells seeds in North America, and 
Genective, which aims to develop its own GMO corn traits. 
    Syngenta will receive a $200 million upfront payment and 
future royalty and milestone payments pending regulatory 
approvals.  
    The deal was announced as the Swiss group posted 
worse-than-expected third-quarter sales, hit by a weak real in 
Brazil.  ID:nL8N12F0CS  
    Vilmorin, the listed seed branch of farm cooperative 
Limagrain, does not market its own GMO technology and has to 
turn to other producers to obtain GMO traits, which are then 
integrated into its own products or those of AgReliant. 
    It has a partnership with U.S. company Monsanto  MON.N , 
giving it access to the North American market where more than 90 
percent of the corn crop is genetically modified, it said. 
    "The essential part of the deal is that these traits be 
integrated in our own genetics to offer specific products," 
Chief Executive Emmanuel Rougier told Reuters.  
    The 20-year agreement with Syngenta would focus initially on 
North America but could extend to other parts of the world, 
notably Brazil and Argentina, Rougier said.  
    "Today you cannot exist in the United States, in Canada, in 
Brazil, in Argentina or in South Africa if you don't have GMO 
products," Rougier said. 
    He did not see the European Union, where opposition has been 
strong to genetically modified crops, as a market for GMO corn 
in the short or mid-term. 
    Syngenta withdrew two applications for GMO corn in the EU 
this month following a re-evaluation of their commercial 
potential.  ID:nL8N12D4AD  
    Vilmorin said this month it would look at Syngenta's 
vegetable seeds activities, which the Swiss group plans to sell. 
 ID:nL8N1261W1  
 
 (Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by Jason Neely) 
 ((Sybille.deLaHamaide@thomsonreuters.com; +331 4949 5145; 
Reuters Messaging: 
sybille.delahamaide.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: VILMORIN KWS/SYNGENTA