Corteva targets fourth quarter for planned split into two companies

By Pooja Menon

Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. agrichemicals company Corteva CTVA.N said on Wednesday it expects the previously announced planned separation into two listed companies to occur sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

Late last year, the company had said it would separate its seed and pesticide businesses as it seeks to sharpen its strategic focus.

Corteva CEO Chuck Magro said at the BofA Global Agriculture and Materials Conference that the company would announce headquarters, senior leadership teams and the CEO of New Corteva in the first half of this year.

The company's executives added that they are optimistic about the future of the crop protection industry, citing steady demand growth and potential for further consolidation.

"We're seeing strong demand, essentially around the world, but there's going to be some continued headwinds, in price, but volume should more than offset it," one of the senior executives said at the conference.

Corteva also has a $9 billion crop protection pipeline, with half a dozen actives and even more biological products expected to come into the market in the next period of time.

"So the set up for our business is really strong," the executive said.

Corteva said that positive momentum from a policy perspective in the U.S. could benefit not only the domestic soybean market but also canola and mustard.