DSM Acquires Brazilian Fermentation Facility from Amyris

Royal DSM has agreed to acquire Amyris Brasil Ltda from Amyris Inc and establishes a long-term manufacturing partnership for Amyris’ high-volume products.

The consideration for Amyris Brasil Ltda (which owns and operates the Brotas 1 production facility) and intellectual property related to FARNESENE (a BIO-based key intermediate for many applications) is $ 58 million plus an additional value share arrangement over a three-year period amounting to $ 37.5 million (aggregate upfront consideration of $ 96 million).

In addition to the consideration upfront, there is potential for a future value share in line with Amyris’ business model.

DSM will continue existing supply-agreements to Amyris and other parties. DSM will also supply Amyris with speciality compounds until it realizes its Brotas 2 specialities production facility. Amyris is accelerating the construction of its second facility dedicated to speciality products while maintaining the manufacturing process development and business support capability located in Campinas, Brazil.

With the acquisition of the Brotas 1 facility, DSM adds a state-of-the-art biotechnology-based production site in Brazil to its global network, with abundant availability of sustainable raw materials (sugar cane), securing production capacity for its rich pipeline of sustainable and bio-based solutions. Having broad experience in operating large-scale fermentation plants, DSM will optimize the operational performance of the site.

The sale of the Brotas 1 facility, which was designed to produce high volumes of farnesene, together with the creation of a long-term production relationship for high-volume farnesene-based intermediates will enable Amyris to focus on its core strength of developing breakthrough bioscience technologies through a portfolio approach that continues to target key markets, as well as the production of specialty products.

“Following our equity investment in Amyris and subsequent product development cooperations, I am pleased that we can add a state-of-the-art fermentation-based production facility to our network. Our know-how in fermentation, downstream process development and large-scale manufacturing will allow us to further improve the operational performance of the facility while further strengthening our strategic alliance with Amyris,” said Chris Goppelsroeder, president & CEO of DSM Nutritional Products.

“This manufacturing partnership and the sale of our Brotas 1 factory allows us to accelerate the development and manufacturing of speciality, high-performance ingredients. We are building a speciality plant at Brotas and also expect to complete our Sao Martinho plant to focus on Sweeteners. The combination of these actions provides us with the manufacturing footprint to meet our current demand through the next 3-5 years and to manage this within our funding constraints,” added said John Melo, Amyris president & CEO.

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