Origin Agritech Finalized Agreement to Sell Former Office Space, Converts RMB137.7 Million Debt into Joint Venture Equity

BEIJING, Sept. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED) (the "Company" or "Origin"), an agriculture technology company, today announced the successful completion of an agreement with Beijing Changping Technology Innodevelop Group (BC-TID). This strategic agreement converts approximately RMB 137.7 million in debt (about US$19 million) into equity in a joint venture. Importantly, this transaction neither involves any aspects of our seed business and technology nor results in the issuance of any new shares of Origin Agritech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SEED).

Key Details of the Agreement:

• Transaction Objective: The primary focus of this agreement is the sale of Origin's former office space in Beijing to the joint venture.
• Asset Transfer: No biotechnology IP or research is included in this transaction. All intellectual property and research assets, including seed business, biotech traits, nutrition enhanced corn (NEC), and supply chain business-related technology and revenues, remain with Origin.
• Financial Impact: The RMB 137.7 million ($19 million) debt will be eliminated from Origin's financial statements.

This transformative transaction fortifies Origin's financial health, better positioning the Company to achieve its long-term objectives in the rapidly evolving agricultural biotech sector.

About Origin Agritech Limited

Origin Agritech Limited, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Zhong-Guan-Cun (ZGC) Life Science Park in Beijing, is a leading Chinese agricultural technology company. 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 www.originagritech.com. The company also maintains a twitter account for updating investors on company and industry developments, which is @origin_agritech.

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.

Joe Ramelli
VP of Business Development
Phone: 310-845-6238
Email: [email protected]

Kate Lang (Mandarin/English)
Phone: +86 186-1839-3368
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Origin Agritech Limited