DSM Acquires Amyris Brasil Ltda.

DSM and Amyris, Inc. have enhanced their strategic alliance through the sale of Amyris Brasil Ltda to DSM and the establishment of a long-term manufacturing partnership for Amyris' high-volume products.


Total consideration for Amyris Brasil Ltda (which owns and operates the Brotas 1 production facility), intellectual property related to farnesene (a bio-based key intermediate for many applications) and an additional value share arrangement over a three-year period amounts to $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 specialty compounds until it realizes its Brotas 2 specialties production facility. Amyris is accelerating the construction of its second facility dedicated to specialty products while maintaining the manufacturing process development and business support capability located in Campinas, Brazil. The transaction is expected to close in the next few months.


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 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 strategic alliance between DSM and Amyris started in May 2017 with an equity investment by DSM in Amyris, and has since been expanded with several significant product development collaborations.


“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.


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.


“We are very pleased with the continued expansion of our strategic alliance with DSM,” said John Melo, president & CEO, Amyris. “This manufacturing partnership and the sale of our Brotas 1 factory allows us to accelerate the development and manufacturing of specialty, high-performance ingredients. We are building a specialty plant at Brotas (Brotas 2) and also expect to complete our São Martinho plant to focus on sweeteners. The combination of these actions provides us the manufacturing footprint to meet our current demand through the next 3-5 years and to manage this within our funding constraints.”


According to Melo, “this transaction completes a planned shift from operating a plant originally designed to produce high volumes of farnesene, to producing an expanding number of high-value, specialty ingredients. This shift will allow Amyris to improve returns and cash flows in order to continue to provide sustainable growth for Amyris and its partners.