AgriBioTech Inc. Raises Equity Through Issuance of $28 Million of Common Stock to State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 1999--

Richard Budd, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AgriBioTech Inc. ("ABT" or the "company") (Nasdaq/NM:ABTX) Monday announced that the company has issued 4,276,850 shares of common stock at approximately $6.55 per share totaling $28.0 million to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board ("SWIB"). The issuance price is the average of the company's closing price per share for the last 10 trading days.

The agreement involving the issuance was finalized after the close of the market on Friday, June 4, 1999, and the transaction was completed today. The proceeds from the issuance of common stock to SWIB will be used by the company to reduce its BABC revolver and repay the bridge loan the company recently received from Budd and his family.

"This is a positive step for ABT in our efforts to improve our capital structure," said Budd. "We have replaced unattractive debt with equity from a supportive, long-term investor that believes in ABT's business plan and vision. We are grateful for the support SWIB has shown in management and its plans for ABT."

Budd continued, "We intend to make further improvements to our capital structure over time and to take full advantage of the increased number of options open to us in doing so now that we have put the `sub-debt' matter behind us.

"In the meantime, we are going to focus on the fundamentals," said Budd. "We are going to complete our integration and move ahead aggressively to meet our goal of being profitable in fiscal year 2000 and beyond. Our long-term business objective has not changed. We intend to build a high-value, proprietary seed business that benefits and rewards our customers and shareholders."

"We believe AgriBioTech has the exceptional people and strong industry position to realize exciting, long-term growth," said John Nelson, investor director of small company stocks of SWIB.

AgriBioTech is a vertically integrated, full-service seed company specializing in the forage and turfgrass seed sector, complete with research and development of proprietary seed varieties, seed processing plants, and a national and international distribution and sales network. ABT's vision is to lead the turf and forage seed industry in discovering its value potential.

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements relating to the company's operations that are based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. Words such as "expects," "intends," "plans" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance; actual results could differ materially. The statements in this news release regarding ABT's intention to make further improvements to its capital structure, the company's goal to be profitable in fiscal year 2000 and beyond, and leading the transformation of the forage and turfgrass seed sector are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties associated with these statements include, but are not limited to: ABT cash flow and collection practices and abilities; management's ability to manage the company's cash effectively; successful cost control at ABT; overall financial condition and asset status of ABT; successful completion of the integration of acquired companies; successful, timely implementation and operation of the new enterprisewide information technology (IT) systems; relationships with and perceptions of potential lenders and investors; and other factors as detailed from time to time in the company's SEC filings.