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Oct 1 (Reuters) - Agrichemicals firm Corteva CTVA.N said on Wednesday it would separate its seed and pesticide businesses into separate publicly traded companies, joining a wave of U.S. conglomerates looking to split their businesses to pursue focused growth.

The split adds to several big-ticket spin-offs announced over the last year, including by Kraft Heinz KHC.O, Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O and DuPont DD.N. Corteva itself was formed after chemical conglomerate DowDuPont split into three entities in 2019.

Corteva expects the spin off to complete in the second half of 2026.

Following the spinoff, the two entities will operate as a pure-play seeds company and a pure-play crop protection firm, Corteva said.

The seed business generated about 56.5% of Corteva's total net sales of $16.90 billion last year, with the remaining coming from its crop-protection segment, which produces herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and seed treatments.

"The seed and crop protection markets have evolved, and as a result, we see the opportunities ahead for both companies diverging – this is the right time to act to stay ahead of the market," said Corteva CEO Chuck Magro.

Magro will become the CEO of the spun-off company that will house the seed business.

Corteva chairman Greg Page will remain in his position at the existing company that will run the crop protection segment.

Shares of Corteva were down marginally at $67.20 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

((Srivastava.Vallari@thomsonreuters.com;))