Raisio - Company Announcement

Raisio and Intellectual Ventures to set up a joint venture in Finland to commercialize Benemilk

Raisio plc      Stock Exchange Release 17 April 2013

RAISIO AND INTELLECTUAL VENTURES TO SET UP A JOINT VENTURE IN FINLAND TO
COMMERCIALIZE BENEMILK 

Raisio and Intellectual Ventures' Invention Development Fund have agreed on the
establishment of a jointly owned company called Benemilk Oy. The aim of the
joint venture is to develop and strengthen the intellectual property portfolio
related to the Benemilk® invention, a cattle feed supplement that improves milk
production, and to commercialise the invention for global markets. As a result
of the arrangement, the Benemilk invention will be transferred to the joint
venture, which will grant Raisio a royalty-free, exclusive license to the
invention and its future applications in Finland. 

Raisio's group company Nordic Feed Innovation Oy will own 75% and Intellectual
Ventures (IV) 25% of the joint venture company. Raisio will own 76% of Nordic
Feed Innovation Oy, while 24% of the company will be independently owned by
Finnish Food Chain Development Oy. The aforementioned entities are new
companies being incorporated for this arrangement. 

IV is the world's leading invention capital company, specialising in the
creation, management and monetization of inventions and intellectual property
rights. The company manages more than USD 5 billion in investment capital and
has generated more than USD 2 billion in licensing revenue. IV manages more
than 40,000 patents and patent applications in its portfolio. Headquartered in
Seattle, USA, IV employs more than 800 people globally and works with more than
4,000 outside inventors around the world. The founders of the company include
Nathan Myhrvold and Edward Jung, both former senior executives at Microsoft. 

IV founder and chief technology officer, Edward Jung, said of the joint
venture: “Intellectual Ventures has applied our global invention ecosystem of
thousands of inventors and hundreds of organizations to several complex global
problems. This includes several areas related to the agriculture supply chain
encompassing food safety, quality, efficiency, environmental impact, and
innovation. The world continues to face a series of challenges related to
large-scale food production - and we have seen this in places as diverse as
Kenya and China. Benemilk and this joint venture will allow us to tackle some
of these global problems head on. The Benemilk invention is one of the most
promising approaches we have seen, and we are encouraged by the huge potential
it and related ideas have to make a worldwide impact. I am very pleased to have
the opportunity to establish a joint venture in Finland and to begin working
closely with Raisio, a leading innovator in the food and agriculture sector.” 

Raisio's CEO Matti Rihko says: “Cooperating with the world's largest specialty
invention company shows the strength and potential of the innovations coming
from Raisio even though our Benemilk patent applications are still pending. Our
work with Intellectual Ventures and its international invention ecosystem
brings the best possible expertise and resources to bear upon the improvement,
patenting, enforcement and global commercialisation of our inventions. I am
especially pleased that the joint venture with Intellectual Ventures will be
established in Finland.” 

RAISIO PLC

Heidi Hirvonen
Communications and IR Manager
Tel. +358 50 567 3060

Further information:
Matti Rihko, Raisio CEO, tel. +358 400 830 727