Kirchner Group’s client, Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., has issued the following press release today. Kirchner Group is acting as M&A Advisor to Mendel Biotechnology.

– Mendel engages Kirchner Group, a leading mid-market Agtech M&A firm –

HAYWARD, California, 4 September 2013 – Mendel Biotechnology Inc. (“MBI”), a leading agricultural discovery company, is announcing its intention to sell its operating subsidiary, Mendel Plant Sciences (“Mendel” or “the Company”). Mendel Biotechnology Inc. will continue to operate its royalty-based, biotech trait business developed primarily in collaboration with Monsanto.

Mendel’s best-in-class-knowledge of the ‘Plant Gene Regulatory Networks’, that control crop productivity processes, is a direct result of more than $100 million invested in research and development. This investment in people and facilities has generated advanced technologies, including a proprietary screening tool – the Mendel Productivity Reporter Panel and some novel herbicides. This panel enables the efficient discovery and development of performance chemistries and biostimulants that enhance crop productivity through improved drought tolerance, water use, disease resistance and photosynthesis.

Neal Gutterson, President and CEO of MBI, said: “We have made tremendous progress at Mendel, generating new technologies for synthetic chemistries and microbial extracts that improve plant growth and performance, as well as our work in the biotech trait and herbicide sectors. We believe that our technologies can help shape the future of the agricultural industry”.

MBI has engaged Kirchner Group, a leading mid-market M & A firm with expertise in the agriculture and food industries, to advise the Board and lead the acquisition process. “The Board of Directors feels that the Company can best achieve its full potential within the context of a larger organization that has a complementary strategic focus. In this way, it could fully realize its commercial opportunities within the billion-dollar markets that its platform creates,” explained Gutterson. Interested parties should contact Kirchner Group.

About Mendel Biotechnology
Mendel Biotechnology Inc., headquartered in Hayward, California, is a leading plant science company meeting the needs of global agriculture. Since 1997, Mendel has been deploying its plant gene regulatory network platform and proprietary tools to improve productivity, resource use efficiency and stress tolerance of key agriculture crops. Mendel’s platform has already identified technologies for next-generation yield traits in soybean and other crops, and is the foundation of a pioneering class of crop performance chemistries and novel herbicides. For more information, visit: www.mendelbio.com

About Kirchner Group
The Kirchner Group has been providing traditional merchant banking services since 1985. The Company provides operational and transactional support for companies and asset management services for institutional investors. Kirchner Group’s proprietary platform is built on the premise that pairing deep domain expertise with process experts provides superior results. Our clients and partners range from some of the most promising entrepreneurs, to fortune 500 companies and their investors. In addition, Kirchner Group manages assets on behalf of some of the largest insurance companies, commercial banks and institutional investors in the world. www.kirchnergroup.com