Syngenta To Sell Global Vegetable Seeds Business
September 8, 2015 Syngenta announced last week its intention to divest its global vegetables seeds business. According to the company, its high-margin business has a significant global footprint and a wide array of best-in-class varieties. As such, it is expected to attract significant third-party interest.
This information comes not long after Monsanto announced it will drop its current bid to acquire Syngenta.
“By demonstrating and unlocking the inherent worth of our leading global seeds portfolio we can create significant additional value,” said Mike Mack, CEO. “I look forward to updating shareholders in the coming months on progress, including providing further visibility on the underlying profitability of our portfolio of assets.”
Syngenta also announced its intention to return significant levels of capital to shareholders through a share repurchase program. According to a news release, the initial program of more than $2 billion will commence in the coming weeks. This will be in addition to the progressive dividend policy which the company has followed for several years.
“The Board and management are determined to accelerate shareholder value creation and our actions today underpin our commitment to do so,” explained Michel Demaré, chairman. “Our commitment is also shown by the significant capital return program that we announced today.”
“We continue to make excellent progress with our AOL (Accelerating Operational Leverage) program which, together with our clear intent to drive margin improvement across the business, underpins our confidence in our 2018 margin target of 24-26%,” Mack added. “For 2015 we reiterate the full year guidance that we outlined in July.”
Source: Syngenta
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