Monsanto to Buy Seed Company, Distributors

Monsanto Co. said it agreed to pay about $1 billion to buy a seed company and two distributors in a bid to broaden its access to the huge world corn market and speed the introduction of new crop products. Monsanto said it would pay up to $945 million for privately held Holden’s Foundation Seeds Inc., which makes parent seeds known as germplasm and inbred seeds used by seed companies to create hybrids. It will pay as much as $75 million for Corn States Hybrid Service Inc. of Des Moines and an international affiliate that are the exclusive worldwide marketing and sales representatives for Holden’s products. Monsanto has been among the agricultural companies developing genes for insertion into crops to help make them resistant to some pests and be able to withstand the use of some chemical weed-killers, such as its popular herbicide Roundup. St. Louis-based Monsanto stock lost $1 to close at $38.625 on the New York Stock Exchange.