parent suntory website http www.florigene.com florigene is a biotechnology company based in melbourne australia which is principally involved in the application of in house genetic modification techniques to develop novel colour expressions in a range of commercial plants . florigene has a subsidiary division in the netherlands and other production operations around the world . contents 1 history 2 public float 3 ownership 4 developments and potential 5 see also 6 external links history edit florigene has long been associated with genetic engineering floriculture . founded as calgene pacific ltd in 1986 with institutional backing from amcor cp ventures ltd and the japan australia venture capital fund it was one of australia s first biotechnology companies . in 1991 calgene s research team announced that it had isolated the gene responsible for the expression of the colour blue in petunias beating out rivals around the globe by a matter of weeks . this breakthrough paved the way for the acquisition of dutch rival florigene in 1993 . calgene assumed florigene s corporate name in 1994 to capitalise on that firm s international reputation . since then florigene has developed naturally long life and disease resistant carnations new morphologies of gerberas and natural colour modifications of the three main cut flowers roses carnations and chrysanthemums which it exports throughout the americas europe and asia . public float edit florigene prepared for a public float hiring credit suisse first boston to develop a prospectus and secure investors across asia europe and the u.s. but was instead acquired by global agrochemicals giant nufarm ltd in 1999 . ownership edit in 2003 japanese brewing giant and long term partner suntory acquired 98.5 % equity in florigene from nufarm . developments and potential edit the significance of florigene s technology is the brand potential of its novel flower varieties a blue rose is a marketer s dream . in 2004 after 20 years and a 45 million worth of exhaustive research and prolific patenting florigene and suntory scientists announced to the world the development of the first rose in the pipeline to a true blue rose . it is expected to be commercialised in the coming years . see also edit suntory blue rose external links edit florigene corporate website this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . december 2006 learn how and when to remove this template message retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title florigene & oldid 647213079 categories biotechnology companies of australiaagriculture companies of australiacompanies established in 19861986 establishments in australiacompanies based in melbournehidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles lacking reliable references from december 2006all articles lacking reliable references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 15 february 2015 at 07 37 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view