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Agriculture products company Monsanto Co on Thursday said it will buy Emergent Genetics Inc, the third-largest US cotton seed company, for $300 million. Monsanto said that acquiring Emergent, its second acquisition in less than a month, will give it a base of popular cotton products on which it can apply biotechnology traits and molecular breeding capabilities to make the plants easier for farmers to grow.

Emergent, known for its Stoneville and NexGen brands, holds about 12 percent of the US cotton seed market. Emergent is currently one of Monsanto's licensees buying traits to give its seeds resistance to insects and herbicides.

Monsanto said that adding Emergent to its planned acquisition of Seminis Inc, the world's largest commercial vegetable and fruit seed company, should accelerate its earnings per share growth to 15 percent in fiscal-year 2006. It projected another 15 percent jump in fiscal 2007.

The company's previous forecast projected a compounded annual growth rate of 10 percent in fiscal-year 2006.

Monsanto announced on January 24 that it was buying Seminis for $1 billion.

Monsanto also said on Thursday that the deal should not change its 2005 earnings forecast of $1.85 to $2.00 a share on an operating basis, though it projected results would come in at the higher end of that range.

But it adjusted downward its projected net earnings for the year to a range of 71 to 93 cents a share, from a previously projected range of 86 cents to $1.06 a share.

Monsanto shares were down 43 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $56.05 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. The shares have traded between $31.28 and $59.29 in the last 12 months.

Copyright Reuters, 2005


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