BASEL, Switzerland – The merger of Novartis Agribusiness’ and AstraZeneca PLC’s agricultural chemical businesses cost Novartis one of its more exciting new technologies. The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled that the company must sell its FLINT® business, which is the line of fungicide products including the new turf product Compass™.
To keep the merger moving forward, Novartis announced June 13 that is has initiated the divestment of its worldwide FLINT® business. Compass™ is sold in the golf, lawn, landscape and ornamental markets worldwide. However, this divestment will not take place until the shareholders of Novartis and AstraZeneca, as well as the antitrust authorities, approve the Syngenta merger.
The FLINT® products are second-generation strobilurin with a broad spectrum of applications, and the FTC has apparently balked at allowing the merged companies to own this technology as well as the strobilurin products owned by AstraZeneca. (The AstraZeneca products are marketed under the brand Heritage.) FLINT® has been commercially available in the United States, Switzerland, South Africa and Norway since 1999, and in Ireland, Great Britain, Germany and Belgium since earlier this year.
The planned sale includes the entire FLINT® business worldwide, including all intellectual property rights – patents and trademarks – as well as the relevant production facilities in Muttenz, Switzerland. Novartis expects the buyer to employ all of the approximately 90 employees at the Muttenz facility.
Announced Dec. 2, 1999, the proposed merger to create Syngenta AG involves combining Novartis’ Crop Protection and Seeds businesses and AstraZeneca’s Zeneca Agrochemicals business. The companies are still awaiting final merger approval from the U.S. and European antitrust authorities. A shareholder vote on the deal has been scheduled for Oct. 11. Novartis' turf care products include its herbicide Barricade, its insecticides Avid and Award, its fungicides Alamo, Banner Maxx, Subdue, Compass and Medallion, and its plant growth regulator Primo Maxx. AstraZeneca's turf products include a line of chlorothalanil fungicides. [For more details of the initial announcement of the proposed merger into Syngenta AG, please click here: AstraZeneca and Novartis Announce Agrochemical Merger.]