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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JGoren who wrote (2530)	3/27/2000 9:38:00 AM
From: JGoren	Respond to of 2539

Too Little too Late: MTC sells off Nutrasweet: Monsanto sells Nutrasweet business for $440 million ST. LOUIS, March 27 (Reuters) - Drug and chemical firm Monsanto Co. said on Monday it agreed to sell its NutraSweet business, whose products are used in diet sodas and other low-calorie sweets, to J.W. Childs Equity Partners II LP for $440 million. Monsanto <MTC.N> also is selling its interests in two European joint ventures to make sweeteners -- NutraSweet AG and Euro-Aspertame SA -- for $67 million in cash to joint venture partner Ajinomoto Co. Inc. Monsanto reached these agreements ahead of its pending merger with Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. <PNU.N> that would form a company with $11 billion a year in pharmaceutical sales and $5 billion from genetically modified seeds and agricultural products. "We're pleased that the business and its people will have the opportunity to enhance the business in focused, stand-alone entities," Hendrik Verfaillie, Monsanto's president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. Proceeds from the sale of all of the businesses included in the plan will be used to pay down debt and for other corporate purposes. Shares of Monsanto closed at 47-1/4 on Friday, off a 52-week high of 50-1/8, up from a low of 32-3/4. 08:40 03-27-00