Origin (SEED) & Dupont (DD) just issued a press release announcing a licensing agreement to develop new seed technologies for Chinese farmers. China has a lot of mouths to feed, and the government is committed to securing their own food supply.
With support from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Origin has successfully developed corn seeds with insect control and herbicide tolerance traits. Origin's expertise in genetic improvements, together with DuPont Pioneer's 90-year history of plant breeding and local customer relationships, will deliver much needed new seed options for China's farmers. - 4/4/16 Press Release
Today's news came 2 months after Swiss giant, Syngenta (SYT) agreed to a bid by ChemChina, a Chinese SOE for $43 billion.
Only around 10 percent of Chinese farmland is efficient. This is more than just a company buying another. This is a government attempting to address a real problem. -Reuters
SEED trades at 1.36x EV/2015 Sales and 16x EV/2015 EBITDA.
The stock closed yesterday at 1.34 (4/4/16), and traded as high as $2.48 this morning (4/5/16), down from its 52 week high of $2.89 in June 2015.
Source: Bloomberg