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Camson Bio Technologies demerging seeds unit into separate firm

By Diksha Dutta

  • 26 Aug 2014
Camson Bio Technologies demerging seeds unit into separate firm

Bangalore-based agriculture biotechnology firm Camson Bio Technologies Ltd is planning to demerge its seed business into a separate company - Camson Seeds Ltd. The firm is holding a board meeting later this week to approve the restructuring plan.

The move will allow the firm to focus on its smaller but faster growing bio pesticide business.

“Till last year (ended March 31, 2014), we got 70 per cent revenues from seeds business and 30 per cent from bio pesticides. But we are expecting 60 to 70 per cent growth in bio pesticides this year and we expect the ratio to be 50:50 by March 2015,” said Santosh Nair, CEO, Camson Bio Technologies, told VCCircle.

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He said the firm is demerging the seed business company as this would de-risk the business model, lead to a better valuation of the firm and would also be beneficial from a regulatory angle.

Last year in May, CLSA Capital Partners committed an investment of around Rs 53 crore (close to $10 million then) to acquire 19.6 per cent stake in the firm. Part of the investment was through equity convertible warrants and Camson received the balance amount from the warrants a few days ago.

Founded in 1993, Bangalore-headquartered Camson Bio Technologies focuses on research, production and sale of seeds and biocides. The firm’s technology platform offers micro-organism database, seed germplasm, screening technology, biofertilisers and hybrid seeds.

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The company had revenues of Rs 198 crore for the year ended March 31, 2014.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)

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