NutraSweet May Be For Sale

Crain's Chicago Business reports that Monsanto Co. (St. Louis) may be planning to sell its NutraSweet subsidiary. According to analysts the Chicago-based unit doesn't fit Monsanto's plan to be a life-sciences company.

Earlier in November, Monsanto announced plans to sell off about $1 billion worth of businesses to help pay for recent seed company purchases. This debt-reduction maneuver became necessary following the breakdown of merger talks with American Home Products Corp.

A Monsanto representative told Crain's the company is still deciding which businesses to divest. But analyst William Fiala of Edward D. Jones & Co. said he thinks NutraSweet "will be high on its hit list of assets to sell."

Back in 1985 when Monsanto bought Searle Labs, NutraSweet held 90% of the market for artificial sweeteners thanks to its patent on aspartame. When this patent ran out in 1992, competitors such as Holland Sweetener began to erode the company's market share. Still, analysts expect the unit could still bring in about $800 million.