Ourofino to launch more animal health products and aim at other businesses
Folha de S. Paulo
Ourofino Agronegócios has five patents "in the drawer waiting for authorization", according to one of its incorporators, Norival Bonamichi. Besides new products, the animal health and crops protection products company that stands up to the power of the multinationals will erect a plant for vaccines and it is rehearsing its entrance in projects in the biofuel area. Deans that make the owners already foresee earnings of R$ 1 billion (US$ 588 million) in five years from now. "The patents have already been deposited and we have concluded the last tests", he says.
The first one that should guarantee exports for the group will attack a frequent problem. Gentamicin, an antibiotic used for mastitis, a very common inflammation of the breast, leaves residues in milk. "You should through milk away for four to six days after the treatment with the antibiotic is concluded. With the new product, no more milk will be wasted. Once the cow stops the medicine, the product can already be used", he says. "We will license the medicine, which is made from a plant, all over the world. "In poorer soils", says Bonamichi, "we can get more of the active ingredient of the plant".
Another patent is an anthelmintic for ovine and bovine, a new molecule. In the soil of the Brazilian Cerrado, partner researchers of the company have made other discoveries, and they are also waiting for approval.
"There are four totally new antibacterial products". The group has grown nearly 25% a year, for a decade. In 2010, the expected growth is of more than 30%.
Really besieged - "you cannot get something others already want to pick it up from us" jokes Bonamichi - Ourofino rules out its sale or an IPO, according to the also owner Jardel Massari. In 2007, BNDESPar invested R$ 100 million (US$ 51.8 million) to have 20% of interest in the company. They made a great deal, it is worth much more today, remarks Bonamichi. In the new plant of crops protection products, in Uberaba, where the resources were invested, those interested have already appeared. "We have just opened the plant and received proposals to sell it for three times what we invested". In the animal vaccines center, the investment will be of R$ 50 million (US$ 29.4 million).
The new unit that goes into operation in 2013 will occupy 7 thousand square meters of land of the company, in Cravinhos, a neighbor town of Ribeirão Preto (SP). "Our big bet is biotechnology. We have professionals with doctorate and partnerships with 18 universities and research institutes", says Bonamichi, who began his life harvesting coffee. "We will enter the area of animal nutrition, a market twice bigger than animal health, and later, fertilizers, that generate R$ 25 billion (US$ 14.7 billion)", completes Bonamichi without ruling out human supplements.