By Maria Armental
The Climate Corp., a unit of Monsanto Co. (MON), is selling its
crop insurance business AmTrust Financial Services Inc. (AFSI).
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
The agreement gives the New York multinational insurance company
exclusive access to some Monsanto technologies for up to three
years.
Meanwhile, the sale would allow The Climate Corp. to focus on
its data analytics, including weather monitoring and simulation and
agronomic modeling.
Monsanto, which has made a roughly $45 billion bid for Swiss
rival Syngenta AG, bought The Climate Corp. in 2013, betting that
"precision farming," a data-driven approach to increasing crop
yields, would complement its biotechnology work.
Monsanto's shares, largely inactive in after-hours trading,
closed Friday at $101.89, down about 15% this year.
AmTrust's shares, up nearly 24% for the year, edged down in late
trading to $69.43.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
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