Novozymes closes on EMD

Bagsvaerd, Denmark-Novozymes A/S said Feb. 7 that it has closed on its purchase of EMD/Merck Crop BioScience, Brookfield, Wisc., from Merck KGaA for $283 million. The company said for the next three to six months it will be business as usual and that employees from both companies will work on a plan to smoothly integrate EMD into Novozymes. Merck’s divested Crop BioScience business researches, develops, and commercializes technologies used to improve plant health and crop yields. These activities are carried out in North and South America through three dedicated legal entities: EMD Crop BioScience, Milwaukee, U.S.; EMD Crop BioScience Canada; and Merck Crop BioScience Argentina. The Crop BioScience business generated about EUR 35 million of sales in 2009 and employs approximately 165 people. EMD/Merck Crop BioScience has had an average annual growth rate of roughly 15 percent over the last seven years, with expected sales in 2010 of roughly $60 million. Novozymes said future expected sales growth supports the company’s long-term expectations of more than 10 percent annual organic sales growth. EMD/Merck Crop BioScience is also a profitable company, with EBIT margins supportive of Novozymes’ long-term expectations of more than 20 percent. Novozymes says its biofertility products increase the supply of nutrients to crops, and include nitrogen inoculants for legume crops, signaling compounds to enhance nitrogen fixation, and products that increase the availability of phosphate to crops. Novozymes’ biocontrol products control insect, disease, and weed crop pests. Novozymes’ bioyield enhancement products stimulate crop stress resistance and generally improve crop health and productivity. Novozymes has over 700 products in 130 countries.