May 8, 2015: Cargill has acquired the fermentation-based processes andsystems of OPX Biotechnologies that had been working on a biobased route to acrylic acid with Dow Chemical.
Cargill purchased substantially all the assets of OPXBio, including thecompany’s EDGE technology, and will be moving them to its facilities inMinneapolis.
OPXBio will be winding down operations when the transaction is completed.
OPXBio will continue to operate through the transition period, which is expected to be 6 to 9 months.
Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Mike Rosenberg, CEO of OPX Biotechnologies, tells to Chemweek that his company terminated its relationship with Dow last September, when their joint development agreement expired: “The companies elected to pursue commercialization on their own. OPXBio elected to pursue a licensing strategyand was in discussions with a potential third party to jointly pursue thatstrategy when the Cargill transaction closed”.
Cargill has been targeting a renewable route to acrylic acid for a number of years.
Cargill also partnered with Novozymes in 2008 to develop microorganisms thatcould efficiently convert renewable feedstock into the platform chemical 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3HP).
BASF joined the project in August 2012 to develop a process for convertingthe biobased 3HP into acrylic acid but exit the collaboration last Januarybecause BASF could not reach the targets for commercializing a dextrose-based product and it did not view investing in scaling up as a viable option.
https://engage-solvay.jiveon.com/groups/blog-competitive-intelligence/blog/2012/ 09/05/basf-cargill-and-novozymes-to-develop-commercial-bio-based-acrylic-acid-p r ocess and https://engage-solvay.jiveon.com/groups/blog-competitive-intelligence/blog/2015/ 01/30/basf-exits-biobased-acrylic-acid-collaboration-with-novozymes-and-cargill
Source: Blog Competitive Intelligence-Jerome Spiel from Chemweek.