[Industry Watch] FMC Continues Market Transformation

With the $1.8-billion acquisition of Cheminova, a multinational crop protection company based in Denmark, and the divestiture of its Alkali Chemicals business, it has been a busy year for FMC Corporation, the Philadelphia-based chemical supplier with deep roots in the pest management industry.

In response to a rapidly changing global marketplace, FMC has been realigning its product portfolio in recent years to expand its position in the crop protection market. With the divestiture of its Alkali Chemicals business on April 1 and the closing of the Cheminova deal on April 21, FMC Agricultural Solutions is expected to represent approximately three-quarters of the company’s total revenue, up from less than 40 percent as recently as 2009.

“The acquisition of Cheminova is fully aligned with our corporate strategy to focus FMC’s portfolio on agriculture, health and nutrition end markets,” said Mark Douglas, president, FMC Agricultural Solutions. “Cheminova has a highly complementary product portfolio and geographic footprint and follows a similar strategic approach to FMC in applying technology to deliver solutions to its customers. This transaction will broaden our Agricultural Solutions portfolio (including its structural pest control assets) and significantly strengthen our market access.

“Cheminova gives us direct market access to key countries in Europe and enhances our customer reach in India, Australia and throughout Latin America, bringing greater balance to our agricultural business,” Douglas said. “We expect (the acquisition) to further enhance our innovation pipeline and generate significant new revenue opportunities for the combined business.”

As of June 30, the integration of FMC Agricultural Solutions and Cheminova is ahead of plan, the company says. “In the two months following the close of the Cheminova acquisition, we moved rapidly to begin integrating Cheminova and FMC Agricultural Solutions,” Douglas said. “The work to date has focused largely on combining the commercial organizations across the regions, streamlining the business and removing overlapping corporate functions. Cost savings arising from these actions are coming in faster than originally anticipated and we are pleased to see a number of recently launched commercial initiatives already gaining traction.”
 

Key Leaders Promoted.

In other news relating to the structural pest control industry, FMC named Maureen Thompson commercial director and Tom Wharton national sales manager for North America Professional Solutions, which comprises its Turf & Ornamental and Structural Pest Solutions business segments.

“By unifying the leadership and operations of the two critical business segments in North America, we are strengthening our field sales organization to better serve our valued customers in North America,” observed Pramod Thota, business director of FMC Global Specialty Solutions. “The new leadership structure allows a more streamlined market outreach while retaining our well-known customer intimacy.”

Previously, Thompson was business manager for Turf & Ornamental Solutions. She joined FMC in 1995 and has held positions in sales, account and sales management in both Turf & Ornamental and Structural Pest Control. Prior to that, she held positions in sales and account management for seed, agricultural manufacturing and distribution businesses. Thompson holds a bachelor’s of science degree in agriculture from the University of Illinois.

As national sales manager, Tom Wharton will play a key leadership role in expanding the Structural Pest Control and Turf & Ornamental markets, as well as advancing FMC’s mission to provide turf and pest management solutions to customers. Most recently, Wharton was the regional sales manager and key account manager for FMC’s Professional Solutions group. He joined FMC in 2005 as a territory business manager. Wharton received a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and a master’s degree in weed science and entomology from Mississippi State University.