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ArborGen goes for $60M acquisition deal
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
ArborGen LLC, the Summerville-based R&D company renowned worldwide for its tree genetics work, has agreed to acquire the commercial nursery and seed orchard businesses of International Paper, MeadWestvaco and Rubicon Limited in New Zealand and Australia.
ArborGen was formed in 2000 as an advanced R&D partnership of the three latter companies. The transaction, which is valued at $60 million, is a significant step forward in ArborGen’s strategy for future growth, said Kimberly Mulcahy, the company’s spokeswoman.
“Going forward, ArborGen will be a fully integrated, full-service tree-improvement company,” she said.
In the seven years since it was established in the Lowcountry, ArborGen has staked its reputation on developing technologies to enhance the production of purpose-grown trees, and is also developing trees as a renewable source for biofuels.
The transaction adds production, sales and distribution operations to ArborGen’s present position in tree biotechnology. It also brings along an extensive customer base with more than 350 million annual tree stock sales and combined revenues of more than $25 million, along with a pipeline of elite pine and hardwood germplasm.
“This is an extremely important development for ArborGen, one that will allow it to significantly advance its business model,” said Rubicon CEO Luke Moriarty in a written statement. “In one move, the acquisition of the U.S. nursery, orchard and tree improvement operations from IP and MWV, and the acquisition of the equivalent Australasian operations from Rubicon, fundamentally repositions ArborGen from a business in development to an established commercial entity.”
The operations now include the nursery and seed businesses, including physical operations, certain land holdings, research and development, pine and hardwood germplasm and breeding programs. ArborGen’s operation will now span more than 20 locations in four countries and include more than 185 employees.
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