Indian biotechnology company Avesthagen has formed a joint venture called Atash Seeds with Limagrain, a French international cooperative group, to develop modified seeds.
The new company, expected to be based in Hyderabad, is to produce and sell seeds internationally, leveraging Limagrain’s domain expertise, knowledge and marketing strengths.
Limagrain is an international cooperative group that specializes in seeds and cereal products.
Avesthagen is reportedly licensing its field crop technologies to Limagrain for nearly Rs 70 crore ($15 million), with Limagrain taking a 51 percent stake in Atash Seeds.
“Atash Seeds will be the first Indian biotech company to work toward jointly contributing to the Indian and French agricultural sectors,” said Villoo Morawala Patell, Avesthagen’s CEO in a news release. He’s expected to be chairman of the new company, which would be headed by a chief executive from Limagrain.
The biotech driven, gene-based novel seed technologies are expected to address the needs of farmers in India and other emerging markets, including combating drought, salinity and growing better quality produce.
The Indian seed market size is about Rs 5,000 crore ($1.07 billion), according to the release.
Atash Seeds plans to sell hybrids and environmentally adjusted crops (nonâgenetically modified organisms and GMOs) for field crops such as rice, wheat, maize and other cereals.
Bangalore-based Avesthagen, which plans to invest up to $40 million over the next three years in the joint venture, said it expects Atash Seeds to generate $100 million a year in five years.
Avesthagen is also looking to raise Rs 700-800 crore through an IPO and pre-offer placements before March 2010. Market conditions have previously prevented the company from going public.
Other companies such as Iowa-based Becker Underwood are also working on better crop technologies. In June, it licensed the global marketing rights to a new seed-protection technology out of the UK's Lancaster University and Stockbridge Technology Centre (see New UK tech protects crops without genetic modification).
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