Evogene and ICL Innovation Sign Collaboration for Development of Crop Enhancers

- R&D collaboration will focus on discovery of products for improvement of nutrient use efficiency in selected crops -

REHOVOT, and TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 14, 2017 -- Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN) (TASE:EVGN), a leading company for the improvement of crop productivity, and ICL Innovation, a subsidiary of ICL (NYSE:ICL) (TASE:ICL), announced today they have entered a multi-year research and development collaboration for the discovery of novel crop enhancers for the improvement of nutrient use efficiency in selected crops.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evogene will utilize its computational discovery platform to identify the potential of certain compounds to improve nutrient use efficiency. Successful candidates identified from the collaboration may be integrated into ICL's product pipeline for further development and formulation. Expected commercialization of products derived from the joint efforts may occur as early as five years from initiation of the research and development activities.

"This collaboration brings two very unique companies together, each with very distinct capabilities and strong track record,” said Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s President and CEO. “ICL currently offers one of the industry’s most robust and diverse fertilizer portfolios, and we believe that, together with Evogene's market leadership in bringing predictive biology to agricultural innovation, we can introduce novel chemistry-based products for enhancing crop productivity through better utilization of applied specialty fertilizers."

"This is Evogene's first collaboration in the area of specialty fertilizers, and we are very excited with the opportunity it presents Evogene to apply its capabilities in a new, and very significant, market segment in agriculture," added Mr. Haviv. 

Eyal Ginzberg, CTO of ICL: "We are excited to embark on this cutting edge research with Evogene, a company well recognized for its high competency in genomic computational tools. ICL has a unique range of specialty fertilizers including controlled release fertilizers and solubles for fertigation and foliar application. Our products enhance the efficiency of plant nutrition, increase yield and improve crop quality. Our research aims to improve nutrient use efficiency with innovative technologies. We look forward to our collaboration with Evogene, which will give us access to novel crop enhancers to further enhance our product offering."

About Evogene Ltd.:
Evogene (NASDAQ:EVGN) (TASE:EVGN) is a leading biotechnology company for the improvement of crop productivity for the food, feed and fuel industries. The Company operates in three key market segments: improved seed traits (addressing yield increase, tolerance to environmental stresses and resistance to insects and diseases); innovative ag-chemicals (developing novel herbicide solutions for weed control); and ag-biologicals. Evogene has collaborations with world-leading seed and ag-chemical companies. For more information, please visit www.evogene.com or contact the Company at [email protected].

About ICL:
ICL is a global manufacturer of products based on specialty minerals that fulfill humanity’s essential needs primarily in three markets: agriculture, food and engineered materials. ICL is a public company whose shares are dual listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (NYSE:ICL) (TASE:ICL). The company employs approximately 13,000 people worldwide, and its sales in 2015 totaled US$5.4 billion. For more information, visit the company's website at www.icl-group.com

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "could", “expects”, "intends", “anticipates”, “plans”, “believes”, “scheduled”, “estimates” or words of similar meaning. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of the Companies may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which beyond the Companies' control, including, without limitation, those risk factors contained in the Companies' reports filed with the appropriate securities authority. Evogene disclaims any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.

Contact: 
Karen Mazor, Evogene
Director, Public and Investor Relations
E: [email protected]
T: +972 54 22 88 039

Gadi Ohana, Debby Communications
E: [email protected]
T: +972 3-5683000