Beijing, China
July 22, 2015
Agria Corporation (NYSE: GRO) (the "Company" or "Agria") today announced that its New Zealand-listed subsidiary, PGG Wrightson Limited (NZSE: PGW) ("PGW"), has agreed to purchase the assets of Grainland Moree Pty Ltd ("Grainland"), an Australian seed company engaged in the seed production, cleaning and wholesale seed marketing businesses. Grainland is based in the Northwestern New South Wales town of Moree, one of the largest wheat receival points in Australia. Grainland is the largest provider of proprietary cereal and pulse seeds to the region's arable farming industry. In addition to its seed production and marketing activities, the business also custom cleans and grades both cereals and pulses for local farmers, warehouses up to 4000 MT of grain in its silo complex, and has a container packing facility. The Moree location will also allow PGW to better service the temperate and sub-tropical pasture seeds market with annual and perennial grasses, legumes and forage crops such as oats, sorghum, millet and brassicas.
Mr. Alan Lai, Executive Chairman of Agria and Chairman of the PGW Board, commented, "We are pleased with PGW's purchase of Grainland. This transaction represents another step in Agria and PGW's collective efforts to execute on a global growth strategy, improve efficiency and productivity for its customers, and further internationalize our operations."
PGW Chief Executive Officer, Mark Dewdney, said, "We continue to grow our Australian business through the acquisition of strategic assets. Grainland offers PGG Wrightson Seeds ("PGW Seeds") a favorable entry point into the highly productive cropping market of Northwestern New South Wales. The acquisition aligns well with our strategy to grow our proprietary arable seeds business, and when coupled with our existing capability in the central New South Wales town of Forbes, gives us state wide coverage of the grains industry."
Grainland General Manager John Shepherd said, "PGW Seeds, with its much broader range of crop and pasture seed products backed by plant breeding capability, will open up new opportunities for Grainland's suppliers and customers. We're pleased to be handing the business over to such a well-resourced and respected company."
PGW's Group General Manager of Seed & Grain, John McKenzie, commented, "Grainland has been a respected and reliable provider of high quality planting seed since 1993. Grainland's business culture aligns well with PGW Seeds' commitment to improving farmer productivity through high performance planting seeds."
PGW Seeds owns or holds licenses to produce and sell a full range of crop and pasture seed products in Australia.
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