<p><strong> Monheim, Germany </strong><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Earlier this week, Bayer CropScience agreed to purchase AgraQuest, Inc. for a reported $425 million. The acquirement of AgraQuest, a global supplier of biological pest management solutions based on natural microorganisms, strengthens Bayer CropScience’s fruits and vegetables business and builds a leading technology platform for green products. This offers farmers a combination of pest management programs that minimize development of resistance and maximize crop yields.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Because AgraQuest products are available in more than 30 countries and used in diverse market segments, the purchase also opens new opportunities for Bayer CropScience in other crops and markets.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Sandra Peterson, CEO of Bayer CropScience, states, “The growing fruits and vegetables market, which today accounts for more than 25 percent of our sales, is of strategic importance for us. We plan to achieve EUR 3 billion sales in this segment by 2020 and with the acquisition of AgraQuest we are underlining our growth ambitions.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The acquisition of AgraQuest also boosts the use of R&D. It is significant for both Bayer CropScience and its customers. “AgraQuest expands our existing biological pest control portfolio centered on our successful Votivo™ biological nematicide, and it allows us to further leverage the biotechnology platform we have acquired through Athenix Corporation,” says Ms. Peterson.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">AgraQuest CEO Marcus Meadows-Smith commented on the unification. “We are proud to become part of Bayer CropScience… AgraQuest is ideally positioned as a technology leader in the global biological market and by joining forces with Bayer CropScience we will be able to develop revolutionary, tailor-made biological solutions. Every AgraQuest employee is passionate about developing innovative solutions for better food, and now the products developed through their hard work will be made available to farmers in every corner of the world.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">According to a press release, Bayer CropScience will also power AgraQuest’s technology platform, its pipeline of new biological control agents, as well as the biopesticides production facility in Tlaxcala, Mexico and the R&D site in Davis,CA. This acquisition is subject to approval by the relevant agents.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.agraquest.com/" target="_new"> AgraQuest, Inc.</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.bayercropscience.com/" target="_new"> Bayer CropScience</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
