Mar 28 2014
Intrexon Corporation, a leader in synthetic biology, today announced the formation of Intrexon Energy Partners (IEP), a joint venture with a select group of external investors, to optimize and scale-up Intrexon's gas-to-liquid (GTL) bioconversion platform for the production of fuels and lubricants. IEP's first target product is isobutanol for gasoline blending.
Intrexon's biocatalyst approach to GTL bioconversion reduces energy use, production costs, and waste while producing a single high value product. The Intrexon platform offers significant economic advantages over traditional conversion platforms that rely on costly thermochemical catalytic processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch method of carbon upgrading, or depend on available plant-based feedstocks. IEP will utilize natural gas as its feedstock, which is a far less expensive carbon source than biomass or sugar-based technologies.
"As our first partnered endeavor in the Energy Sector, the formation of IEP exemplifies investor confidence in the power of our integrated synthetic biology platforms beyond our established health, food, and consumer capabilities," said Randal J. Kirk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intrexon. "We envision IEP building upon Intrexon's biocatalyst platform to produce additional high-value fuels and lubricants beyond isobutanol."
Through an Exclusive Channel Collaboration (ECC) agreement, IEP will pay Intrexon a $25 million technology access fee to leverage the Company's synthetic biology capabilities, including the UltraVector® platform, to further enhance the performance of a target biocatalyst. In addition, IEP, in which Intrexon owns a one-half interest, will invest up to $50 million in program development costs. Simultaneously, Intrexon entered into securities purchase agreements with the external investors in IEP for the private placement of 972,004 shares of common stock at a price of $25.72 per share for gross proceeds of $25 million.
"There is an established need to convert the ample supply of natural gas in North America into high-value oil products rather than to perform high-cost liquefaction for export of an inexpensive source of carbon," said Robert F. Walsh, Senior Vice President of Intrexon's Energy Sector. "Our synthetic biology toolbox and whole genome engineering capabilities enable Intrexon to generate a biocatalyst solution with the highest economic return – maximizing energy output using fewer resources."
Source: http://www.dna.com