-Corrine McIsaac President, Health Outcomes Worldwide

-Denis Taschuk President & CEO, Radient Technologies Inc.

-Tim Lee Chief Investment Officer, Venture Capital GrowthWorks Capital

Sales pipelines, annual budgets and multi-year P&L forecasts represent the three most commonly used financial used by entrepreneurs and evaluated by investors in early stage companies.  There is no question these are important tools that require regular review and adjustment.  But for early and mid-stage businesses they don’t represent the entire picture and are not necessarily the best tools for managing cash – the life blood of any company.

For this reason, all early stage businesses should develop a rolling cash flow forecast.  Companies experiencing rapid growth or an adverse business situations should also ensure they adapt this critical step.  A well designed cash forecasting tool will incorporate the unique cash elements of the company’s business model (i.e., inventory requirements, advance payments from customers, upfront capital expenditures required to begin serving a new customer, etc.).  Rolling forward the estimated cash components of the business for the next 60 to 90 days and updating the forecast on a regular and frequent basis will give management critical information for improving decision making and avoiding unpleasant surprises. In this market environment where raising capital has been increasingly difficult and many companies have seen their growth stalled, it is paramount that your house is in order and managing your cash is the first and most important step.

Corporate

The structure for private investment partnerships drives the urgency for investors. For instance, the compensation structure of private equity managers favors situations where value can be built quickly. Since time erodes internal rates of return and higher IRRs yield bigger performance checks for fund managers, the calendar can become the enemy of an investor when a business strays off plan. In addition, the fixed contractual life of these partnerships means that fund managers must turn their investments back to cash by a certain date.

The closing of the initial investment by a PE firm represents the opening whistle to start the game. Investors and entrepreneurs certainly benefit from the shelter provided by private ownership, which can limit capital markets damage resulting from a misstep, slow ramp-up or unforeseen shock to the company. However, the freedom to effectively triage a tough situation without the glare of public eyes does not stop the game clock. Entrepreneurs backed by PE investors must be prepared to move quickly and to sustain an aggressive pace. PE firms operate with the clock in mind at all times, expecting management to make on-the-field adjustments as necessary. If management can’t keep pace, it might find that play calling shifts to the owners’ suite.

Corporate

Saskatchewan, Canada 5 April 2012 – Foragen Technologies L.P. announced that its investee company MCN BioProducts Inc. (“MCN” or the “Company”) completed the sale of substantially all of its technology assets to Bunge Limited, a leading global agribusiness and food company.

MCN (www.mcnbioproducts.com) was formed by David Maenz, Henry Classen and Rex Newkirk, University of Saskatchewan researchers, to develop new products from canola. The Company proceeded to develop a unique, patented process to manufacture value-added canola-based ingredients for the aquaculture and animal feed industries.

Todd Lahti, President & CEO of MCN said, “We have taken this technology from the lab bench to the processing floor and proven the commercial value of our new canola-based products. The time is right to pass it on to a major processor with worldwide operations. Bunge has the processing and distribution expertise and infrastructure to maximize the technology’s potential in a commercial setting.”

After spinning out from the University, MCN received its initial seed capital funding from Foragen Technologies, an agricultural technology venture capital firm. This was critical to advancing the technology to the point of interest for later stage investors. Investment followed from CIC Investment Management, GrowthWorks and FCC Ventures and this allowed the Company to finish the necessary research and development work, optimize its manufacturing process and complete product validation, all of which was necessary to attract interest from the large agribusiness firms.

Armand Lavoie, Managing Director of Foragen said, “The success of MCN is the result of hard work of MCN management, specifically Todd Lahti, and the scientific team, specifically David Maenz and Dierdre Culbert. The successful transaction was guided by Kirchner and Company, Inc. (www.kirchnerpcg.com/kirchnerandco), a boutique merger and acquisition group with strong agricultural expertise.”

Contact:
Armand Lavoie
Managing Director
Phone: 306 651-1066
Email: armand.lavoie@foragen.com or alavoie@foodsecuritygroup.com

About Foragen
Foragen Technologies L.P. (www.foragen.com) is a Canadian investment fund dedicated to the creation and launch of technologically advanced companies in the agricultural and food technology sector. Its mandate is to promote start-ups by offering entrepreneurs seed capital, business and technology management expertise and networking opportunities that will allow them to concentrate on developing and commercializing their technologies. Foragen is sponsored by RBC Capital Partners, the CIC Investment Management and Investissement Québec.

The Foragen management team are also the founders of the newly launched Food Security Group (www.foodsecuritygroup.com).

White Plains, N.Y., 4 April 2012 – Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) (“Bunge”), a leading global agribusiness and food company, today announced it has purchased substantially all of the assets, including the patent portfolio, of MCN BioProducts Inc. (“MCN”), a privately-held Canadian technology company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Assets purchased include intellectual property related to the conversion of canola and rapeseed meals into nutritionally dense protein concentrates that can replace both fish meal and vegetable protein concentrates in animal diets, including aquaculture.

Miguel Oliveira, Executive Director, Bunge Global Innovation, said, “Animal nutrition continues to evolve and requires innovative products that deliver value in sustainable ways. MCN’s technology opens up opportunities for Bunge to provide protein alternatives in markets where we already operate, as well as in new ones. Importantly, the new concentrates are produced via a patented enzymatic water-based process that can be added to an existing canola and rapeseed crushing plant without affecting oil quality or yield. As a global agribusiness and food company, Bunge has the right operational expertise and asset network to successfully commercialize this process and leverage it in our core businesses in the years to come.”

Bunge Global Innovation (“BGI”) is an interdisciplinary team applying the latest thinking and technologies to drive innovation across all Bunge business segments. BGI’s mission is to scout, develop, buy, sell or license technologies that will improve Bunge’s sustainability, profitability and competitive advantage.

About Bunge Limited
Bunge Limited (www.bunge.com, NYSE: BG) is a leading global agribusiness and food company with approximately 32,000 employees in more than 30 countries. Bunge buys, sells, stores and transports oilseeds and grains to serve customers worldwide; processes oilseeds to make protein meal for animal feed and edible oil products for commercial customers and consumers; produces sugar and ethanol from sugarcane; mills wheat and corn to make ingredients used by food companies; and sells fertilizer in North and South America. Founded in 1818, the company is headquartered in White Plains, New York.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains both historical and forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather reflect our current expectations and projections about our future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. We have tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words including “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “continue” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. The following important factors, among others, could affect our business and financial performance: industry conditions, including fluctuations in supply, demand and prices for agricultural commodities and other raw materials and products used in our business; fluctuations in energy and freight costs and competitive developments in our industries; the effects of weather conditions and the outbreak of crop and animal disease on our business; global and regional agricultural, economic, financial and commodities market, political, social and health conditions; the outcome of pending regulatory and legal proceedings; our ability to complete, integrate and benefit from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic alliances; our ability to achieve the efficiencies, savings and other benefits anticipated from our cost reduction, margin improvement and other business optimization initiatives; changes in government policies, laws and regulations affecting our business, including agricultural and trade policies, tax regulations and biofuels legislation; and other factors affecting our business generally. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and except as otherwise required by federal securities law, we do not have any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Bunge Limited

How do we make ourselves more impervious to the voracious appetites of our competitors? One way is to be sure your business culture is one with a spine that is present, straight and strong. It is the spine of the business culture that allows a business to stand tall. Unless they also have a culture with a spine, we will stand shoulders over our competitors. How do we know if we have a strong cultural spine? Answer a few simple questions.

Does everyone in the company know who we are? What do we value…really value? What do we detest…really detest? What are our dreams? Do we understand how to get from here to there? In 15 seconds or less can every employee articulate what sets us apart from everyone else in the world? Is everyone in business able and willing to tell everyone else in the business, “That is not how we do things. That is not how we behave. You are out of line.”

The answers to these questions will tell you whether your business has a culture with a spine… and perhaps how appetizing you look to your competitors.

Dr. Patrick McNees

The company in question had developed truly disruptive technology in the alternative fuel space. Explosive worldwide growth in the industry had encouraged the company to dramatically increase the size of its development and production facilities and to extend the reach of its sales activities to access new development plants overseas. Thanks to a resurgent traditional fuel market, the alternative fuel industry was collapsing and the company was left with a potentially valuable technology but no immediate market to sell into.

Investors understood the market dynamics but were concerned at the company’s high burn rate and needed to have an independent view of the company’s technology, its management and its operations, so that conclusions could be drawn with regard to future directions, including options for a possible exit.

Key to this was whether the market was really collapsing or was this really a convenient excuse for bad performance. Here, as it turns out, the market changes were real. However, Management was failing to act on this fact. The hard decisions to focus on alternative markets and cut the burn rate were not being made.

So, what do you do when the elephant rolls over? You move.

Chris Butlin

However, watching The Great One perform over the years I became impressed with another aspect of Wayne’s game. While he had an uncanny ability to know where to position himself, he often created the situation that CAUSED the play to unfold. He directly influenced where the puck would be. He created the future.

In business we often spend considerable time and energy thinking about the past and the future. Where is the market going? What are the economic indicators saying? What are the trends? What does a particular market segment want?

While there is some value in post-hoc and predictive analyses, let us not forget that we have the ability to influence, shape and (yes) to some extent, create the future. As someone I know said, “I am not very good at predicting the future. I am a little better at creating it.” Such active participation in creating the destiny of a business prevents the inseparable bond that develops between being a victim of circumstances and behaving stupidly.

Dr. Patrick McNees