INCOTEC acquires Landec Ag and makes a strong move in the North American field crop market

Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, 26th june 2012

INCOTEC^®, Salinas, California, today announced that it has taken over all the activities and operations of Landec Ag LLC located in Oxford, Indiana.
Landec Ag LLC (a former subsidiary of Landec Corporation) is a developer and producer of functionalized polymer coatings for the seed industry.

INCOTEC will also obtain exclusive license rights from Landec to market the Intellicoat^® Pollinator Plus^® technology and both companies will jointly research the development of new polymer technologies.

INCOTEC also announced that these activities will be brought under a newly erected company INCOTEC FIELD CROPS North America, LLC to be located at the existing facilities of Landec Ag. This new company will focus on INCOTEC’s increasing presence in field crops in North America for the provision of innovative seed enhancements products and the highest level of service to its customers. INCOTEC FIELD CROPS North America will be a wholly owned subsidiary of INCOTEC Holding North America, owned by the Dutch based company INCOTEC Group BV. INCOTEC will continue to operate its vegetable seed technology business from its activities located in Salinas, Gonzales and Soledad, California.

“With our increased presence in the agronomic market and demand for new value added technologies for seed, INCOTEC FIELD CROPS North America will allow us to serve our customers better by bringing new innovative products rapidly to the market” states David Pickenpaugh, President and General Manager of INCOTEC in North America. “We are extremely pleased with the addition of Landec Ag and its employees to the INCOTEC Group. This move will enhance our sophisticated seed improvement technologies, and give us a strong presence closer to our field crop customers. Besides our broad range of coating technologies we have exciting new seed enhancement technologies to offer, like our unique disinfection technology ThermoSeed^® and our strong application platform for all kinds of actives and additives.”

INCOTEC FIELD CROPS North America will be led by Dr. Natarajan Balachander, as Vice President and General Manager. Dr. Balachander has over 17 years of experience in bringing new coating technologies to the seed industry. “We are excited with this new synergistic opportunity and look forward to being part of INCOTEC’s strong expansion and growth in the field crop business with some unique technologies as well as the further growth of Intellicoat^® Pollinator Plus^® in the US and globally” said Balachander. The existing Landec Ag facilities in Oxford will be expanded by the addition of 50,000 sq. ft of research, manufacturing and warehouse facilities.

About Landec Corporation
Landec Corporation is a materials science company that leverages its proprietary polymer technologies, application development and innovation capabilities to develop and commercialize new products in food, agricultural, biomedical and industrial markets. Landec has two proprietary polymer technology platforms: Intelimer Polymers^® and Sodium Hyaluronate (“NaHy”) that are the foundation for its business. Landec’s subsidiary, Apio, has become the leader in US fresh-cut specialty packaged vegetables by combining Landec’s proprietary food packaging technology, the strength of two major national brands Eat Smart^® and GreenLine^®, with the capabilities of a large national food supplier, processor and distributor. Through its subsidiary, Lifecore Biomedical, Landec is now a premium supplier of hyaluronan-based materials and medical products to ophthalmic, orthopedic and veterinary markets worldwide. Landec’s Licensing Partnerships work closely with market-leading companies to develop and commercialize differentiated polymer-based products. For more information go to www.landec.com