Israel’s MA Pays $1 Billion for U.S. Herbicide Maker

Makhteshim Agan Industries, an agrochemical company based in Israel, will buy Albaugh, a maker of herbicide based in Iowa, for about $1 billion.The company, also known as MA Industries, said on Sunday that it had signed a letter of intent to pay $340 million in cash, $455 million in seven-year promissory notes and 59 million of its shares, equivalent to a 12 percent stake and worth $211 million, Reuters reported.

MA is a subsidiary of Koor Industries, itself part of the IDB Group. It had sales of $2.2 billion in 2009 and ranks seventh among global agrochemical companies.
“This is a transformational acquisition,” Erez Vigodman, president and chief executive of MA, said in a statement. “It extends our industry leadership to North and South America, giving us the opportunity to participate in fast-growing markets and significantly improving the global balance and diversity of our revenue sources.”
Albaugh, which was founded in 1979 by Dennis Albaugh, is based in Ankeny, Iowa, in the heart of the American grain belt.more