New Plant Health Company, Advan, Enters Market

ROSWELL, Ga. – A press conference Thursday afternoon marked the official announcement of the creation of a new plant health company focused on serving the turf and ornamentals, specialty agriculture and home and garden markets in the U.S. and Mexico. The new company, Advan, LLC, is being formed by Mitsui & Co. of Japan and the Sipcam-Oxon Groups of Italy and is owned 50/50 by their respective U.S. subsidiaries. Advan begins operations August 1 in Roswell, Ga. and is expected to generate sales of more than $40 million in 2006 from a product line enriched through a number of new marketing agreements with Certis USA, Sipcam Agro USA, and Mitsui Chemical.

EXPERIENCED STAFF, FRESH PHILOSOPHY. Anchoring Advan's new management staff is Lynn Brookhouser who becomes president and chief executive officer while retaining his position as president of Roswell-based Sipcam Agro USAl. Tim Damico serves as chief operating officer of Advan and directs tactical sales and marketing operations, customer service and logistics from the company's Columbia, Md. office. Kurt Schwartau becomes business development and marketing director; he reports to Brookhouser.

Additionally, Advan is managed by three business area managers reporting to Damico: Robert Yarborough, turf and ornamentals, home and garden business manager; Bret Menagh, U.S. agricultural business manager; and Luis Gerardo Gonzales Ruelas, Mexico business manager.

COMPLEMENTARY PRODUCT LINE. Brookhouser says Advan’s strategic focus will be on “earning a preferred position” with its customer base in the three high-value markets the company will serve. The company intends to earn this position by providing what it calls “personalized service” from a trustworthy and experienced staff and by bringing to market a useful line of biorational and traditional synthetic chemical products.

"Our competitive advantage is clear. We have a great product line that is supported by strong people with expertise in the high-value markets of turf and ornamentals, specialty agriculture and home and garden," Brookhouser said. "Also critical to achieving our strategic growth objective is the ability to bring in outstanding third party products. We're pleased that Mitsui Chemical is making that happen right now."

Mitsui Chemical of Japan grants development and marketing rights to Advan for a product previously only sold outside the U.S. Upon their registrations, Trebon®, a broad spectrum insecticide (etofenprox) will be sold by Advan into the turf, ornamentals, greenhouse and specialty agriculture markets. Mitsui Chemical, Inc. will also grant development and marketing rights for other new pesticides to Advan in the near future.

Certis USA, of Columbia, Md., and a subsidiary of Mitsui Agriscience International (MASI), transfers to Advan marketing rights for its U.S. and Mexico products, including insecticides, fungicides and Basamid(R) soil fumigant, while retaining its intellectual property, manufacturing assets and sales outside of the U.S. and Mexico. Additionally, Advan will have exclusive marketing and sales rights to Certis USA's and MASI's future agricultural, turf and ornamentals, and home and garden plant health products in the U.S. and Mexico.

Sipcam provides Advan exclusive marketing and sales rights to current and future agricultural products sold in California, Arizona and Mexico and to turf and ornamentals and home and garden products sold in the U.S. and Mexico. In addition, Advan has exclusive U.S. marketing rights to Echo® 82.5 WDG, a new chlorothalonil formulation for use on specialty agricultural crops. Sipcam retains intellectual property assets, manufacturing responsibilities and, with the exception of California and Arizona, will continue to market its agricultural products in the U.S. through its current marketing and sales organization.

SALES FORCE & DISTRIBUTION. Tim Damico, Advan’s chief operating officer, noted that the company’s sales force is ready to assist customers from strategic locations throughout the U.S. On the turf and ornamental side, five full-time sales representatives will work from the Northeast, upper Midwest and Great Lakes region, the Southeast, Florida, and parts of Texas and South Carolina.

Advan’s specialty agricultural business, which Brookhouser expects to bring in the most revenue early on, will span the U.S. with seven representatives across California, Texas, Florida and the East coast.

Currently, Advan has yet to fill a position for a dedicated home and garden sales representative who will focus on building the company’s homeowner business. Advan will also have a four-person sales team in Mexico covering the specialty agriculture business south of the border.

In terms of distribution, Damico said, “We’ve generally used traditional distribution companies including national organizations such as UAP, Helena, Western Farm Service and ProSource, but we also have a strategy where we employ regional distributors for the turf and ornamental market that can have a more direct relationship with end-users in the marketplace in their regions.”

More information about Advan can be found on the company’s Web site, www.advanllc.com.