ExSeed Genetics L.L.C. has entered into an agreement to sell all its assets to BASF Plant Science. ExSeed Genetics will now operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF Plant Science.

“We are pleased to be a part of BASF,” explains Mark Scholl, president of ExSeed Genetics. “A single owner will allow ExSeed Genetics to react more quickly to emerging market opportunities. We are excited about the opportunity to participate in the BASF Plant Science technology platform to accelerate the overall development of ExSeed's ideas and products globally. In addition, we look forward to the upstream and downstream synergies that the BASF Group will bring to ExSeed and its customers.”

“ExSeed brings valuable additional capabilities in plant biotechnology and genetics to the existing BASF Plant Science group,” says Hans Kast, president of BASF Plant Science. “Its proprietary FasTrack genetic trait introduction technology continues to deliver value-added agricultural grain products tailored to end users in the feed and retail food processing and milling industries. Clearly, the marketplace is moving away from generic commodities and toward value-enhanced grains with specific traits. We are now better positioned to meet the needs of the marketplace.”

ExSeed provides value-enhanced grains to feed, food and industrial markets under the brand name ExSeed Enhanced. ExSeed Genetics works with a variety of seed and production partners within the ExSeed Contracting Network to provide animal feeders, millers and food processors ExSeed Enhanced traits in grains that add value and improve the end-use product.

In 1998, ExSeed Genetics launched NutriDense, an elevated oil protein and amino acid corn hybrid, available to swine, poultry and dairy producers throughout the United States. Through exclusive licensing agreements, ExSeed Genetics uses several genetic patents to incorporate specialty traits into the agricultural grain crops of corn, wheat and rice.

Unique proprietary breeding processes developed by ExSeed can speed crops with specific traits to the marketplace faster than ever before.

Also in 1998, ExSeed Genetics merged with Thurston Genetics. Thurston Genetics, founded by Robert Thurston in 1993, serves as a genetics clearinghouse acquiring marketing rights of elite corn inbred lines from seed companies that have an active breeding program. Thurston Genetics selects and solicits elite germplasm from all over the world; ExSeed Genetics adds value added traits to the germplasm.

You can visit the ExSeed Genetics Website at www.nutridense.com. BASF's Internet address is: http://www.basf.com