DuPont Buying Danish Food Additives Firm

For the first nine months of its 2010 fiscal year, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) got nearly one-third of its sales from its agricultural and nutrition division. That’s more than any other segment of the company, including its Kevlar and Tyvek businesses. The $7.5 billion in sales for the first nine-months is nearly equal to the $7.7 billion price DuPont paid for seed company Pioneer in 1999.

Now DuPont has offered to buy Denmark’s Danisco (OTC: DNSCY), a food additives and enzymes maker, for $5.8 billion. Danisco’s board voted unanimously to recommend to shareholders that they accept DuPont’s offer.

DuPont’s involvement in the ag sector has been primarily in seeds, insect control products, and some additives like soy lecithin. It plays in a different bit of the market than does, say, Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT). In many ways, DuPont’s ag business is more like that of Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), which is also a big seller of seeds and pest control products.

DuPont can probably see the writing on the wall regarding the growth that is coming in the food sector, and it is staking out a position in the additives business rather than in the consumer product segment or in the fertilizer business, where it would have to compete with the likes of Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT). DuPont also probably wants to avoid competing with big producers like Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) or privately-held Cargill as well.

DuPont is also interested in Danisco’s progress toward producing the second generation of ethanol fuels, called bioethanol. The two companies already have a joint venture working on developing bioethanol.

The chemical giant could also be hedging its bets on its joint venture with BP plc (NYSE: BP) called Butamax Advanced Biofuels, which is working on developing an alternative to gasoline called biobutanol.

In its annual report for 2009, DuPont noted that it had spent more R&D money in its ag segment in an effort to speed up its biotechnology trait research and development. The company’s seed business is one end of the food value chain, and the additives business of Danisco is the other. In between is DuPont’s research and development team.

The deal looks like a good one from here. DuPont gains a position at the end of the food production line that it didn’t really have before and it gains a firmer grip on development of bioethanol. What it doesn’t gain is a lot of competition from some pretty high-powered players.

DuPont’s shares are off about -2.71%, to $48.41, just before noon today. The company’s 52-week range is $31.88-$50.54. DuPont set its 52-week high just last week, so once the natural aversion of investors to bid up a company that just spent $5.8 billion, DuPont’s stock could continue the rising pattern it has posted for the past six months.

Paul Ausick