14th January 2004
|
Media Release
|
Nufarm to acquire Germany/Austria rights to fungicide products
|
Nufarm Limited announced today that it intends to acquire a 5 year exclusive distribution license, for Germany and Austria, to the cereal fungicides SPORTAK®, SPORTAK ALPHA® and FLAMENCO®FS.
Nufarm has reached agreement on terms with BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Ludwigshafen, Germany (“BASF”) in relation to the distribution rights, however the deal is subject to approval by the German anti-trust authorities. That approval is anticipated within the next week.
Assuming the deal is completed, Nufarm expects to generate sales of these products in the order of Euro 4-6 million in the current financial year (FY2004).
Fungicides are a class of agricultural chemicals used to control fungal disease in a variety of crops. Europe accounts for some 85% of fungicides used in global cereal crops.
Nufarm’s Managing Director, Doug Rathbone, said the acquisition will meet a number of key strategic objectives for Nufarm:
|
- The broadening of the company’s product portfolio, which is heavily weighted towards herbicides;
|
|
- Expansion of the company’s European business in key markets such as Germany, where a new sales infrastructure was established last year;
|
|
- Leveraging Nufarm’s existing position in cereal crops (due to cereal herbicides strength); and
|
|
- The addition of products with strong brand and market share positions.
|
|
“Given that the top selling crop protection products in Europe are fungicides, this is an important and positive development for the expansion of Nufarm’s business in that region”, Mr Rathbone said.
”We have an existing business into which we can place these products and we anticipate that distributors will welcome an opportunity to source cereal fungicides from an alternative supplier.”
|
-- end --
Further information:
Robert Reis
Corporate Affairs
Phone (61 3) 9282 1177
|
Home
News & Press Releases
