GRAIN
July, 2010
Grain.org
We offer a brief overview of the expansion of agribusiness in the global
food system in the past two decades, with some thoughts on what we can
expect from these companies in the years ahead.
Back in the early 1990s, many of Seedling’s pages were devoted to
discussions about international treaties and public research agendas.
Corporations were part of the discussion, but mainly as a looming threat,
one group of actors pushing forward the industrial model of agriculture that
was destroying agricultural biodiversity. Fast- forward twenty years, and
the landscape has changed. Corporate power in the food system has grown by
leaps and bounds. Today corporations set the global rules, with governments
and public research centres following their lead.
To read full article from GRAIN click here
Page 3 of Grain Report:
“….Typically, these initiatives seek to build up local private seed companies that can establish marketing channels and build up networks of seed growers. While most of these small seed companies will inevitably be bought up or squeezed out by larger transnationals, in the meantime they not only get markets up and running, but also provide critical domestic support to push for changes to seed regulations, intellectual property laws, and biosafety legislation that undermine farmers’ seed systems and pave the way for the big corporations to step in and take over the market…..”
Memo regarding purchase of NBTY (including Holland and Barrett):
http://www.faqs.org/sec-filings/100715/NBTY-INC_8-K/a2199420zex-99_2.htm#ixzz0wUu0Myny
Should ethical investors drop out of investing in this sale and disengage in any involvement with this Group??
Are the Carlyle Group involved with Monsanto??
Link: http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=101&name=Frank-Carlucci
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Comments regarding the NBTY sale invited from Jon Benninger, the director of business development at Virgo Publishing, producers of the SupplySide trade shows, Natural Products Insider magazine, Natural Products Marketplace magazine, and Food Product Design magazine. Responsibilities include strategic planning, industry outreach, content development, and new business development.
Link:
http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/blogs/jon/2010/07/what-does-the-nbty-deal-mean.aspx
Excert from above link:
“Who is The Carlyle Group? Click here for their website. They are a massive private equity firm with more than $90 billion under management. And this is their largest buyout since 2007. It would seem like a pretty strong vote of confidence in the future of the supplement industry for such a group to buy in like this. So does that mean we can expect to see more private equity looking at the industry? Will this drive up the value of other industry companies? Is Carlyle looking at other companies in the industry?
Another thought to consider: NBTY is the largest company in our industry, and has always been an active member of the associations, a strong advocate in regulatory and legislative arenas, etc. How will this acquisition affect those areas? Well, let’s just say that it can’t hurt to have a large, influential, DC-based firm like Carlyle with skin in the game. If anything NBTY’s ability to defend consumer access to supplements just got even stronger.
Finally, what is the deal with all of these law firms coming out of the woodwork to announce that they are investigating the NBTY board? The firms are suggesting that the board did not shop around enough for the best deal, and therefore shareholders got stiffed. Are shareholders really upset about this? Or are the lawyers just stirring things up and shopping for a case? Whenever I see a law firm buying ads on Google to find people to hire them for a proposed suit, I get a little suspicious. Kind of like the bottom feeders who show up whenever a study or other piece of info suggests something bad about a supplement or a drug. We will keep an eye on that developing situation, but I still haven’t heard about a mob of NBTY shareholders marching down the streets of Ronkonkoma.”