Monsanto to Sell Biodegradable Plastic Polymers Technology
Bloomberg News
February 5, 1999, 6:53 p.m. ET
Monsanto to Sell Biodegradable Plastic Polymers Technology
St. Louis, Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co., a leading
agricultural biotechnology company, said it will sell its
biodegradable plastics technology as part of belt-tightening
effort following the collapse last year of its planned merger
with American Home Products Corp.
Monsanto had hoped to genetically engineer canola and
mustard plants to produce biodegradable plastics. The company
made some advances, but said a commercially viable product was
five to seven years away.
The St. Louis-based company said it tried to find a partner
to help develop the business, but was unsuccessful. In December
it closed it down. Most of the 50 employees were transferred in
the preceding months. The five remaining were dismissed.
''We had hoped to use the plants as factories,'' said Diane
Herndon, a Monsanto spokeswoman, ''but the market wasn't there
for them. No one was willing to pay extra money for the
biodegradable polymer.''
Monsanto was also developing plastics using a fermentation
technology it acquired from Zeneca Plc in 1996. It charged $4.00
a pound for biodegradable polymers produced through fermentation.
Petroleum-based polymers cost 40 cents a pound. The company had
hoped to get the cost of its biotechnology-based polymers down to
60 to 80 cents.
The company will sell or license its technology in pieces or
as a package. Herndon said it is a very small business -- ''in
the millions, not hundreds of millions.''
Monsanto has successfully developed a variety of genetically
enhanced crops that resist insects and tolerate herbicides. It is
working to develop food and animal feed with improved nutritional
composition. It is stripping away all businesses that don't
relate to its main agricultural, nutrition or drug businesses.
--Toni Clarke in the Chicago newsroom (312) 692-3725 /mfr
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