Agro-chemical firm Crystal Crop Protection Ltd (CCPL) on Thursday said it has completed the acquisition of four hybrid seeds — cotton, mustard, pearl millet and grain sorghum — from global life sciences firm Bayer in India. The seed business acquired by CCPL represents a very small portion of Bayer’s Indian and global business portfolio. The two companies had agreed to close the transaction by December-end this year.
“We have completed the transaction ahead of target date and now Crystal team will take over the business,” CCPL Managing Director Ankur Aggarwal said in a statement.
Mustard, pearl millet and cotton hybrids are strong brands preferred by farmers. This acquisition will strengthen the company’s field crop seed business and make it a strong integrated agri-input player, he said.
“We expect this business to contribute 10 per cent of annual turnover,” he added.
CCPL said the acquisition comes with prestigious brands Proagro and Surpass — along with associated breeding programs, talented team of incredible knowhow, technology, intellectual property, research farms and strong pipeline of products — that will put CCPL in a fast growth trajectory in seed business.
This is Crystal’s third acquisition in seed space since 2011 when it acquired Hyderabad-based Rohini-Seeds Pvt Ltd and Rohini Bioseeds and Agritech Pvt Ltd and acquisition of Syngenta’s Indian Grain Sorghum, Fodder Sorghum (SSG) and Pearl Millet seeds business in 2018.
