Wageningen, The Netherlands
September 30, 2009

From left to right, Dianne van der Kop (GT), Piet Barten (Bejo), Simon Groot (East‐West), Bert Schrijver (Bejo) and Douwe de Boer (GT)

A strategic alliance is signed by the Dutch Biotech company Genetwister Technologies B.V., and two world leading vegetable seed companies Bejo Zaden and East‐West Seed. This partnership includes acquisition of shares of Genetwister and rapid implementation of genomic breeding technology in the breeding programs of both seed companies.

Bejo and East‐West will join the Genetwister Scientific Advisory Board. This committed alliance with these long term investors supports Genetwister in its growing ambition to become a worldwide leader in applied plant biotechnology. The companies share the same vision and the synergy will result in a strong impulse of genomic breeding projects to improve current breeding programs with innovative technology.

Douwe de Boer, Managing Director of Genetwister, comments: “Genetwister benefits from the dedicated commitment of two well known vegetable seed companies to its activities and is provided with additional possibilities to upgrade its biotechnology skills and bio‐informatics tools that make Genetwister a leader in large scale data analyses. The resulting improved accuracy speeds up characterization of cultivars and allows for molecular identification of  biochemical processes underlying traits that are relevant for breeding programs as well as green biotechnology”.

About Genetwister

Genetwister Technologies B.V. is an innovative Dutch biotechnology company, with an international position in commercially applied biotechnology of agricultural and horticultural crops. Genetwister is an expert in identification and isolation of molecular markers for genomic breeding, metabolic engineering and diagnostics using high throughput technology for sequencing, expression profiling and functional genomics. Genetwister’s bio‐informatics group develops proprietary software for database management, data‐analysis and data‐mining. More information on Genetwister can be found on www.genetwister.com.

About Bejo Zaden

Bejo is one of the leading companies in breeding, production, processing and sales of premium quality vegetable seeds and its experience in the seed sector spans more than 100 years. Its assortment of more than 800 different varieties, representing some 45 crops, enables Bejo to offer a comprehensive programme suitable for various markets and climate zones. Bejo translates market demands into vegetable varieties that clearly represent added value for the entire food chain. Constant innovation is the focus and main drive for Bejo’s growth. More information on Bejo can be found on www.bejo.com.

About East‐West Seed Group

The East‐West Seed Group is a group of vegetable seed companies located in tropical Asia with its headquarters near Bangkok. It is leading with respect to breeding and distribution of tropical vegetable seeds. East‐West has one of the best tropical Asian vegetable germplasm collections in the world, which helps its creative group of international breeders to develop superior varieties. East‐West also has a unique approach to market development and assisting farmers. More information on East‐West Seed can be found on www.eastwestseed.com.
 

Website: http://www.genetwister.nl/

Published: October 3, 2009