Hints and tips:
...A 2009 Supreme Court case involving prescription drug labels, Wyeth v Levine, greenlighted state laws that are stricter than federal laws....
...In 1996, there were 600 independent seed companies: most have since been bought out by bigger players, including the six names — Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont, Dow Chemical and BASF — that now control...
...former finance director had successfully convinced US agribusiness giant Monsanto to accept a $66bn offer that will position the combined group as the world’s most powerful supplier of crop chemicals and seeds...
...(Quartz) Monsanto drops bid The seeds group dropped its $46bn offer for rival Syngenta on Wednesday, sending shares of the Swiss group tumbling....
...Merus backed Symphony’s seed-funding round and is now the only non-Wall Street investor, with about 5 per cent....
...Other mooted tax inversions – including a $36bn plan by Monsanto, the US seed company, to acquire Swiss rival Syngenta – have also gone quiet....
...Chuck Lee, who leads Syngenta’s corn work in North America, estimates only about 3,500 US farmers will plant Duracade seed this spring....
...Production of high-yielding seeds – dominated by Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta – fertiliser and modern irrigation systems is also big business. The Green Revolution has its critics....
...Elsewhere, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Syngenta from “buy” to “hold”, though the Swiss agri-business rose 0.8 per cent to SFr246.50....
...Mr Vernon, who is the ‘v’ in Brevan, intends to “pursue other interests”. Of the five founding partners, Jean-Philippe Blochet left in November 2009 to join Moore Capital....
...We’ve engaged with the four multinational companies with seed production operations in India – Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont – and we’ve seen some good results across the sector.”...
...Syngenta, the Swiss agrochemicals maker, reported a 12 per cent rise in full-year net profit which fell shy of expectations, as sales fell 1 per cent due largely to weakness in its seeds business....
...Last April, Dupont and Syngenta signed a wide-ranging cross-licensing deal and a joint venture to sell their GM corn and soyabean technology to independent seed producers....
...Andrew Stott at Credit Suisse said: “Syngenta will have finished the year in reasonable shape, aided by market share wins, price increases in US crop protection and seeds and ongoing cost savings.”...
...Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, The National Investor and Deutsche Bank Al Azzia Financial Services have been appointed joint lead managers....
...Societe Generale, France's second biggest bank, was among the top performers in the FTSE Eurofirst 300 after posting good results and Switzerland's Syngenta was another strong performer....
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