DSM buying Brazilian fermentation facility from Amyris

In a move to expand its strategic alliance with industrial bioscience company Amyris Inc., Netherlands-based specialty chemical supplier Royal DSM has purchased Amyris Brasil Ltda for US$58 million.

Amyris Brasil Ltda owns and operates the Brotas 1 production facility in Campinas, Brazil.

Under the terms of the sale, DSM will supply Emeryville, Calif.-based 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.

“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,” DSM said in a statement. “Having broad experience in operating large-scale fermentation plants, [we] 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.

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, DSM said.

The company will continue to target key markets and concentrate on the production of specialty products.

“Following our equity investment in Amyris and subsequent product development cooperation, I am pleased that we can add a state-of-the-art fermentation-based production facility to our network,” said Chris Goppelsroeder, president and CEO of DSM Nutritional Products. “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.”