Devgen to Acquire Rice, Sunflower, Sorghum and Pearl Millet Businesses in India and Other Asian Countries From Monsanto

ST. LOUIS, and GHENT, Belgium, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monsanto Company and Devgen nv (Eurolist: DEVG) today announced that Devgen nv and its Affiliates have signed agreements with Monsanto's Asia subsidiaries for the acquisition of Monsanto's hybrid rice, sunflower, sorghum and pearl millet businesses and certain other assets.

Under the terms of the agreements, Devgen entities will purchase the assets associated with Monsanto's rice, sunflower, sorghum and pearl millet businesses and certain other assets in India, Pakistan and the Philippines, for approximately $ 26 million in cash, subject to certain customary closing conditions. Sale or transfer of assets of certain Monsanto's Asian subsidiaries is subject to the approval of its shareholders in India.

Additional terms of the agreements are not disclosed.

Mr Sekhar Natarajan, CEO of Monsanto India, said: "With Monsanto's focus on its core crops of cotton, corn, oilseeds as well as its herbicides business we believe that rice, sunflower, sorghum and pearl millet would be better served in the hands of a party more strategically focused on these crops allowing the business to reach its full potential. We believe that Devgen has the expertise and potential to take this business forward."

Thierry Bogaert, Devgen's CEO, added: "The acquisition of these seed assets, combined with Devgen's trait technology and seed business, will transform Devgen into a top tier seed and seed technology provider in major Asian crops. We have now completed the foundation of our trait and seed strategy."

"Devgen is committed to build and commercialize the innovative seeds that Indian farmers require to increase their productivity and meet the increasing demands on Asian staple crops like rice, sorghum and pearl millet," says Stefan Frey, Devgen's COO. "This creates exciting and vast growth business opportunities for Devgen."

Related Information:

Devgen will conduct a conference call on Friday, Sept. 14 at 11:00 a.m. CET, which will also be broadcast via internet. The event is open to the public and is accessible via http://www.devgen.com/ and via telephone at +32 2 290 14 07. To ask questions during the Q&A session, please join the event via telephone 10 minutes prior to the start of the conference call. A recording of the event will also be made available at http://www.devgen.com/ shortly after the call.

About Monsanto

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. For more information on Monsanto, see: http://www.monsanto.com/.

About Devgen

Devgen is a top 10 public agro biotech company with agricultural business units focused on developing and commercializing:

-- a novel generation of biotech products to protect a wide spectrum of crops from damage incurred from pests; -- biotech traits and germplasm to meet the growing needs for high yielding, high quality hybrid rice and selected small grains in India and S.E. Asia; -- safer and more environmentally friendly agro-chemical products to protect crops from damage inflicted by plant parasitic nematodes.

Devgen's biopharmaceutical division develops a new class of preclinical drug candidates, based on novel therapeutic concepts, for treatment of a range of inflammatory and metabolic disease (diabetes, obesity) and arrhythmia. Devgen has entered into partnerships with industry leaders in biotechnology and agro chemistry. Incorporated in 1997, Devgen has offices in Ghent (Belgium), Singapore and Hyderabad (India), with a total work force of about 100 people. Devgen is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels (ticker: DEVG) since June 2005. For more information on Devgen, please visit the company's web site: http://www.devgen.com/.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements containing the words "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "may" and "continues" as well as similar expressions. Such forward looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which might cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Devgen to be materially different from any future results or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. Devgen disclaims any obligation to update such forward looking statements in this document to reflect any change in its expectations, conditions or circumstances on which such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.