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| August 20, 2002 |
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| Nihon Nohyaku to acquire Mitsubishi Chemical's Agrochemical Division |
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Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
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Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd.(Tokyo, Japan, President: S. Ohuchi) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Tokyo, Japan, President: R. Tomizawa) have agreed today to transfer Mitsubishi Chemicals' agrochemical business to Nihon Nohyaku. The official transfer will take place on October 1st, 2002.
Mitsubishi Chemical's agrochemical business with sales of technical grade of insecticides and herbicides has an annual turnover of $60million. Nihon Nohyaku has decided to acquire the business in light of the strong demand for Mitsubishi Chemical's products and the synergy expected with Nihon Nohyaku's original product portfolio. With this transaction, Nihon Nohyaku will succeed the business relationship Mitsubishi Chemical had with its customers.
Nihon Nohyaku as a R&D oriented company invested about 10% of its turnover annually for discovery of new chemical entities and has marketed a number of original agrochemicals worldwide, namely APPLAUD, FUJI-ONE, MONCUT, DANITRON and ECOPART. Nihon Nohyaku now firmly believes this acquisition will double its R&D capability and strengthen its competitiveness in the Japanese agrochemical market which is expected to be drastically consolidated in the near future.
Mitsubishi Chemical had also been increasing its presence in the agrochemical market with its creativity focused in new chemistries. However, it has judged it would be difficult to make it survive as a stand alone business due to the shrinking Japanese agrochemical market, the aggressive action of multi-national companies and the expected consolidation of the market. All of these factors have resulted in an extremely competitive and difficult business environment. Therefore, Mitsubishi Chemical has decided to divest and transfer its agrochemical business to Nihon Nohyaku. Nihon Nohyaku highly values Mitsubishi Chemical's business and its employees and has a clear intention to continue to successfully grow the business.
This acquisition of Mitsubishi Chemical's agrochemical business demonstrates Nihon Nohyaku's pledge to strengthen its position as a comprehensive agrochemical manufacturer, and to expand and improve its business and customer service commitment.
| For further information, please contact |
| Nihon Nohyaku Co., Ltd. |
| General Affairs Dept. |
Tel: [+81]-(0)3-3274-3374
FAX: [+81]-(0)3-3281-5462
Email: soumu@nichino.co.jp
Homepage: http://www.nichino.co.jp/ |
| Public Relations and Investor Relations Dept., |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation |
Tel: [+81]-(0)3-3283-6274
Fax: [+81]-(0)3-3283-6287 |
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