IN BRIEF: Agronomics investee Tropic buys banana business Rahan
Agronomics Ltd - Isle of Man-based investor in cellular agriculture - Portfolio company Tropic Biosciences UK Ltd acquires Rahan Meristem (1998) Ltd for USD20 million, "one of the world's leading banana propagation businesses" with "an established presence in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Philippines and Israel." Says the deal supports the scale-up and commercialisation of Tropic's proprietary banana varieties. Expects it to give Tropic a direct route to growers, and accelerate product development and commercial launches, through the access to Rahan's "production infrastructure, field testing plots, mother plantations, agronomy know-how and customer base." Tropic, which aims to develop improved crops with its GEiGS platform and other gene-editing technologies, also recently raised USD105 million in a series C funding round and "launched the first new commercial banana varieties in more than 75 years." Read More