ZEDER INVESTMENTS LIMITED - Zaad Concludes Agreement To Form JV Dedicated To Field Seeds In South Africa With Vilmorin & Cie And Seed Co

Zaad Concludes Agreement To Form JV Dedicated To Field Seeds In South Africa With Vilmorin & Cie And Seed Co

ZEDER INVESTMENTS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number: 2006/019240/06)
Share code: ZED
ISIN: ZAE000088431
(“Zeder” or “the Company”)

VOLUNTARY ANNOUNCEMENT – ZAAD CONCLUDES AGREEMENT TO FORM JOINT
VENTURE DEDICATED TO FIELD SEEDS IN SOUTH AFRICA WITH VILMORIN & CIE
AND SEED CO

Zeder is an investor in the broad agribusiness and related industries. Its portfolio consists of
strategic interests in leading companies that provide it with a diversified exposure across the
agribusiness spectrum.

Shareholders of Zeder are advised that Zeder’s subsidiary, Zaad Holdings Proprietary Limited
(“Zaad”), through its subsidiary Klein Karoo Seed Marketing Proprietary Limited (“Klein Karoo
Seed”), has concluded an agreement to establish a joint venture in South Africa dedicated to
field seeds, particularly corn (“Joint Venture”). This Joint Venture groups together all the
South African field seed activities of Klein Karoo Seed, Vilmorin & Cie (which is the holding
company of Limagrain Europe and incorporated in France) (“Vilmorin & Cie”) and Seed Co
SA Proprietary Limited (“Seed Co”). The Joint Venture is called Limagrain Zaad South Africa
Proprietary Limited and is controlled by Vilmorin & Cie.

Over the past number of years, Zeder has established and positioned Zaad as a strategic
holding company that invests and operates in the specialised agri-inputs industry with a focus
on emerging markets, especially Africa. Through acquisitions and organic growth, it has
aggregated and developed attractive businesses and currently owns, develops, imports and
distributes a broad range of agricultural seeds in Africa, Europe and other international
emerging markets. In recent years, Zaad has added strategic plant nutrition and
agrochemicals to its portfolio to complement its product offering, particularly in emerging
markets with the Farm-Ag and Hygrotech acquisitions.

Klein Karoo Seed is a South African seed company which has been firmly established in the
country since its establishment in 2002 and Seed Co is a leading African seed company, of
which Vilmorin & Cie is the reference shareholder.

The Joint Venture will be one of the leading players in South Africa, proposing a specific multi-
crop approach and benefiting from critical mass in an already highly consolidated field seed
market. It has a combined headcount of around 300 employees. It covers South Africa, as well
as Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia, which also require temperate genetics for corn.

The Joint Venture combines the strengths of the three companies and will be able to capitalise
on high level of synergies, in terms of research, production, product portfolio, sales
organisation and marketing, within the three well-known brands.

The Joint Venture is primarily dedicated to corn seeds (white and yellow), an essential crop in
South Africa (with nearly 3 million hectares cultivated, it is the largest African market in terms
of value). Moreover, the Joint Venture stands out in the market by offering a wide product
range, including soybean, sunflower, wheat, sorghum and forage, as a complement to corn.

Fully integrated into Vilmorin & Cie’s worldwide field seeds research organisation, it will also
be able to benefit from genetic resources from the Americas and Europe to increase the
efficiency of its research work.

The establishment of the Joint Venture is perfectly in line with Zaad and Zeder’s field seeds
strategy and is a concrete demonstration of its capacity to develop solid partnerships
internationally, as well as its desire to pursue its development in Africa, which has considerable
growth potential.

Stellenbosch
14 September 2020

Sponsor and Transaction Adviser to Zeder and Zaad
PSG Capital

Date: 14-09-2020 12:15:00
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