Sumitomo Buys U.S. Agchem Partners

Sumitomo Chemical’s Valent BioSciences subsidiary has acquired Pace International, a provider of postharvest coatings, sanitizers, and disease management products, for $65 million. Valent, which makes biobased pest control agents, previously owned 25% of the company. Separately, Sumitomo has increased its stake in McLaughlin Gormley King, a Minneapolis-based producer of insect control products, from 33% to 76% by acquiring shares owned by the Gullickson family, which founded the firm in 1902. MGK specializes in pesticides based on pyrethrum, which is extracted from a species of chrysanthemum.