Unilever Agrees Sale of Plant Breeding International to Monsanto for Approximately 522 Million U.S. Dollars.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 1998--Unilever announced today that it has agreed to sell Plant Breeding plant breeding, science of altering the genetic pattern of plants in order to increase their value. Increased crop yield is the primary aim of most plant-breeding programs; advantages of the hybrids and new varieties developed include adaptation to new agricultural International Cambridge Limited (PBIC PBIC Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center ) to Monsanto Company, for approximately 522 million dollars cash. The transaction includes PBIC operations in Scotland and France together with PBI PBI protein-bound iodine. PBI abbr. protein-bound iodine PBI, n See iodine, protein-bound. PBI protein-bound iodine. Saatzucht, its German affiliate company. The U.K. government has been informed of the proposed sale. Completion is expected on July 16, although the transfer of PBI Saatzucht will be deferred pending regulatory clearance from the German competition authorities. PBIC is a successful business producing and marketing worldwide new and improved crop varieties. It also has significant breeding programs for winter wheat winter wheat n. Wheat planted in the autumn and harvested the following spring or early summer. , barley, oil seed rape, beans, peas and potato. It employs some 280 people - at Cambridge, in its breeding stations in France and Germany and at its potato facility in Scotland. In April this year, Unilever announced its intention to sell PBIC as part of its continuing focus on consumer goods consumer goods Any tangible commodity purchased by households to satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods (e.g., autos, furniture, and appliances) have a significant life span, often defined as three years or more, and products and the development of its portfolio of foods and home and personal care businesses. The sale to Monsanto meets PBIC's need to develop further its plant breeding capability by gaining access to the research and development of a global plant science company. It is therefore considered to be in the best long term interests of the company, its employees and European agriculture. PBIC was formed in 1987 when Unilever acquired the breeding and applied science resources of the Plant Breeding Institute and the National Seed Development Organisation. BACKGROUND: Unilever is one of the world's largest consumer products companies with sales close to $50 billion. It produces and markets a wide range of foods, home and personal care products. Unilever operates in 88 countries around the globe and employs 270,000 people. In the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Unilever sales exceeded $8 billion in 1997. It employs 21,000 people and has 66 offices and manufacturing sites in 23 states. Two of Unilever's 12 global Business Groups are headquartered in the United States. Some of their major products are: Foods - North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. : Lipton teas, soups, recipe products and side dishes; Wish-Bone salad dressings; Lawry's seasonings and specialty sauces; Imperial, Promise, Country Crock crock - [American scatologism "crock of shit"] 1. An awkward feature or programming technique that ought to be made cleaner. For example, using small integers to represent error codes without the program interpreting them to the user (as in, for example, Unix "make(1)", which , "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. !", Brummel & Brown spreads and sprays; Ragu pasta and pizza sauces; Five Brothers premium pasta sauces; Klondike, Popsicle and Breyers ice cream products, and Gorton's frozen seafood products. Unilever Home and Personal Care - North America: Wisk, "all" and Surf laundry detergents; Snuggle and Final Touch fabric softeners; Sunlight dish detergents; Lever 2000, Caress, Dove and Shield bar soaps; Pond's and Vaseline skin care products; Q-tips cotton swabs and cotton balls; Mentadent, Aim, Close-up and Pepsodent oral care products; Finesse, Salon Selective, Thermasilk, Aqua Net and Rave hair care products; and Calvin Klein and Elizabeth Arden cosmetic and fragrance products.
CONTACT: Unilever, New York
John T. Gould, Jr., 212-906-4694
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