Sell-Offs: Monsanto to Divest Sweetener Unit

Once the primary attraction in a major merger of the 1980s, the popular artificial sweetener Equal was put on the block by its owner, Monsanto Co. Monsanto obtained Equal in the acquisition of drug and medical products firm G.D. Searle & Co. when the product was relatively young and on a growth tear. But times change. Monsanto has undergone a restructuring, spinning off its chemicals business as Solutia Inc. and concentrating its focus on biotechnology. Equal was included in the planned sale of a Monsanto group that encompasses its NutraSweet artificial sweetener and food ingredients operations and enjoys annual sales of about $1 billion. Aside from strategic implications, the proceeds are expected to help Monsanto pay down debt, much of which was rolled up in an expensive buying spree to add biotech and seed companies. In the information technology field, Compaq Computer Corp., which has been having problems with its core PC business, hit on a way of reviving its AltaVista Internet search engine. Compaq will let someone else do the work, namely the well-known Internet investor CMGI Inc., and keep a stake in the outcome. Compaq agreed to sell 83% of AltaVista to CMGI for $2.3 billion and will hang on to the remainder. CMGI said its development plans include blending content from other Internet portfolio companies with AltaVista.