Vilmorin, KWS license Syngenta GMO corn traits

PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - French seed group Vilmorin
VILM.PA and German peer KWS SAAT KWSG.DE signed long-term
licensing agreements with Syngenta SYNN.VX to use the Swiss
chemical group's genetically modified (GMO) corn traits, they
said on Thursday.
They will be allowed to market Syngenta's current and future
corn (maize) traits on a separate basis or through their joint
ventures AgReliant, which sells seeds in North America, and
Genective, which aims to develop its own GMO corn traits.
Syngenta will receive a $200 million upfront payment and
future royalty and milestone payments pending regulatory
approvals.
The deal was announced as the Swiss group posted
worse-than-expected third-quarter sales, hit by a weak real in
Brazil.
Vilmorin, the listed seed branch of farm cooperative
Limagrain, does not market its own GMO technology and has to
turn to other producers to obtain GMO traits, which are then
integrated into its own products or those of AgReliant.
It has a partnership with U.S. company Monsanto (N:MON) MON.N ,
giving it access to the North American market where more than 90
percent of the corn crop is genetically modified, it said.
"The essential part of the deal is that these traits be
integrated in our own genetics to offer specific products,"
Chief Executive Emmanuel Rougier told Reuters.
The 20-year agreement with Syngenta would focus initially on
North America but could extend to other parts of the world,
notably Brazil and Argentina, Rougier said.
"Today you cannot exist in the United States, in Canada, in
Brazil, in Argentina or in South Africa if you don't have GMO
products," Rougier said.
He did not see the European Union, where opposition has been
strong to genetically modified crops, as a market for GMO corn
in the short or mid-term.
Syngenta withdrew two applications for GMO corn in the EU
this month following a re-evaluation of their commercial
potential.
Vilmorin said this month it would look at Syngenta's
vegetable seeds activities, which the Swiss group plans to sell.