A Prairie company producing and selling forage, turf and grass seed for international and domestic markets is set to be an early foothold for a German seed firm in North America.
DSV (Deutsche Saatveredelung) announced last week it has reached a deal in early April to buy up all shares of Northstar Seed, which is based at Neepawa, Man. with an Alberta office at Okotoks.
Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close “within the coming months,” were not disclosed.
DSV, based at Lippstadt, east of Dortmund, said in a release April 26 it will be “able to enrich our portfolio with new genetics, including alfalfa, to serve our customers worldwide even better.”
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DSV is already a joint owner with another German seed firm, NPZ-Lembke, in Manitoba-based canola and pea seed breeding firm DL Seeds.
“Through this acquisition, DSV will not only be managing (its) own seed multiplication areas in Canada and North America, but also gaining access to the Canadian as well as the North and South American retail market, thus enlarging its footprint into the Americas significantly,” the company said.
Northstar founders Don Pollock and Rob Wolfe said in the same release that under DSV’s ownership “we are certain that we can expand our business worldwide — a true win-win situation for both companies.”
Founded by alfalfa seed growers in 1982, privately-held Northstar today produces, sells and distributes Canadian-grown forage, turf, cover crop and native grass seed, as well as leafcutter bees and equipment.
Northstar has said it “continues to expand its activities” selling into markets in North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. It also takes part in research and development programs internationally “to ensure that we remain on the cutting edge of plant breeding and genetics.”
DSV, meanwhile, bills itself as one of Germany’s leading plant breeding and seed companies, with gross revenues of over 210 million euros (C$284 million) per year.
DSV, which produces seed for grasses, corn, cereals, oilseed rape and cover crops, has stakes in “well-known” companies in the seed industry in Germany and elsewhere, as well as its own subsidiaries in Denmark, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Poland, Argentina and Ukraine. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
