Origin has received RMB137.66 million from Beijing Changping Technology Innodevelop Group

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Apr 15, 2020, 08:00 ET

BEIJING, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the "Company" or "Origin"), an agriculture technology and rural e-commerce company, today announced the Company has received RMB137.66 million from Beijing Changping Technology Innodevelop Group.

Origin has entered a definitive framework agreement with Beijing Changping Technology Innodevelop Group (BC-TID) as announced earlier. Under this agreement, Origin and BC-TID will use Beijing Origin Seed Limited (Beijing Origin) as the target joint venture entity, The Company will contribute the Origin Life Science Center building in Beijing and two biotech corn traits to the joint venture and BC-TID will fund the joint venture with a total of RMB204 million. The Company will restructure Beijing Origin and transfer the unrelated assets to Beijing Origin State Harvest Biotechnology Limited, the wholly owned subsidy of the Company. BC-TID will then inject its cash investment into Beijing Origin to hold 51% of equity in Beijing Origin. The cash of RMB137.66 million received is currently in the form of loan, which will be converted to equity according to the definitive framework agreement. Such equity investment will significantly increase the Company's shareholder's equity and bring the company to compliance with NASDAQ's listing rules regarding the capital deficiency we announced previously.

BC-TID is wholly owned by the local government of Changping District in Beijing and was setup as an industrial investment platform. With over RMB10 billion in assets, BC-TID mainly invests in the companies in the industrial parks of Changping District, where Origin Life Science Center building is located.

About Origin Agritech Limited

Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing, is China's leading agricultural technology and a rural social e-commerce company, expanding in mid-2018 from crop seed breeding and genetic improvement business to be a leading technology developer in new rural e-commerce platform and Blockchain technologies. In crop seed biotechnologies, Origin Agritech's phytase corn was the first transgenic corn to receive the Bio-Safety Certificate from China's Ministry of Agriculture. Over the years, Origin has established a robust biotechnology seed pipeline including products with glyphosate tolerance and pest resistance (Bt) traits. For further information, please visit the Company's website at: http://www.originseed.com.cn or http://www.originseed.com.cn/en/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements address expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and contain words like "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "will," "would," "target," and similar expressions and variations. Forward-looking statements address matters that are uncertain. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions and expectations which may not be realized. They are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates but involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control. Some of the important factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements are: failure to develop and market new products and optimally manage product life cycles; ability to respond to market acceptance, rules, regulations and policies affecting our products; failure to appropriately manage process safety and product stewardship issues; changes in laws and regulations or political conditions; global economic and capital markets conditions, such as inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; business or supply disruptions; natural disasters and weather events and patterns; ability to protect and enforce the company's intellectual property rights; and separation of underperforming or non-strategic assets or businesses. The company undertakes no duty or obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of future developments, or new information or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

SOURCE Origin Agritech Limited