SAN DIEGO, Feb. 27, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genomatica announced that Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation has signed an agreement to exclusively negotiate definitive agreements for a joint commercial operation in Asia for the production of BDO using Genomatica's process technology. Mitsubishi has made an up-front payment to Genomatica of $3.5 million while the companies continue to work toward completing their definitive agreements, some or all of which may be repaid upon certain conditions. The agreement continues until the earlier of June 30, 2012 or the date the companies execute a definitive agreement.
This agreement builds on a previously announced memorandum of understanding between the companies signed in April 2011 and an equity investment by Mitsubishi into Genomatica in December 2010 and strengthens the partnership between the two organizations.
"Genomatica and Mitsubishi are both focused on bringing greater sustainability to the chemical industry," said Shigeru Handa, general manager of the Sustainable Resources Business Development Department of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. "Genomatica is a technology leader, especially in the strategically important field of C4 chemicals. Their BDO process has the potential to provide market-leading economics and sustainability consistent with our concept of Kaiteki, the global quality of life that will be made possible through sustainable technologies and through breakthrough scientific advances in human healthcare."
"We are looking forward to supporting our partner Mitsubishi as they look to implement and deploy our processes in one of the fastest-growing markets in the world," said Christophe Schilling, Ph.D., CEO of Genomatica. "As a major producer and consumer of BDO and its derivatives, including PBT and PTMG, Mitsubishi brings tremendous market knowledge and application expertise, and is well-positioned to leverage the differentiation that can be gained from a renewable approach to producing BDO."
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Group, a publicly traded company listed on the Tokyo exchange with annual revenues of approximately US$38 billion.
About Genomatica
Genomatica is a technology leader for the chemical industry. It delivers new, transformative manufacturing processes that enable its partners to produce intermediate and basic chemicals from renewable feedstocks. These chemicals serve as the basis for making substantially all of the products that make modern life possible. Genomatica's processes are designed to achieve better economics with enhanced sustainability and a smaller environmental footprint than conventional, petroleum-based manufacturing processes. Genomatica is developing a pipeline of manufacturing processes for the production of these chemicals, and expects the first commercial-scale BDO plant that utilizes its processes to begin production in 2013.
About Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Mitsubishi Chemical Group is Japan's major chemical group and offers a wide variety of products and solutions in three business domains—performance products, health care, and chemicals.
We believe "Sustainability", "Health", and "Comfort" are the key words in the 21st century society, and we aim to amalgamate our lineup of products and technologies into the power of "Chemistry" to greatly contribute to solving the problems that our global society faces.