Syngenta has recently announced a new licensing agreement with two of its collaborators, KWS and Limagrain.  The companies plan to expand their joint ventures, AgReliant and Genective, with a 20 year agreement covering AgReliant in North America as well as individual operations abroad.  Syngenta will share rights to its corn trait portfolio in return for a $200 million upfront advance and future royalty and milestone payments.

Davor Pisk, Chief Operating Officer for Syngenta said, “This agreement is a further affirmation of the value of Syngenta’s innovative GM traits portfolio and biotechnology capabilities. The creation of additional value through trait outlicensing, as well as the incorporation of leading technologies in our own branded offer, will be an important driver in improving the profitability of our Seeds portfolio.”

“As an independent seed company it has always been our primary desire to deliver best products to the farmer. With this renewed agreement we will be able to meet the requirements of our customers, based on the global strength of our corn germplasm and a wide range of competitive GM corn traits delivering sustainable solutions. Furthermore the agreement allows Genective to follow its open architecture strategy of combining own corn GM traits with leading trait platforms in the industry,” says Hagen Duenbostel, CEO of KWS

“Limagrain, through its holding Vilmorin & Cie, considers this global trait licensing agreement with Syngenta a strong addition to its Field Seeds product portfolio for established and future GM corn markets. The ability to combine highly competitive proprietary germplasm with both Genective and Syngenta leading GM traits will increase the options offered to our corn customers around the world. Providing such alternative options is at the heart of our vision to help corn farmers meet future production challenges,” reports Bruno Carette of Limagrain Field Seed.