Global Bioenergies has signed a contribution agreement with the shareholders of Dutch biotech start-up Syngip B.V. to transfer all Syngip shares to Global Bioenergies S.A subject to the fulfilment of several suspensive conditions including approval by the shareholders of Global Bioenergies.
Global Bioenergies, a French biotechnology development company has announced that has signed a contribution agreement with the shareholders of Syngip B.V. to transfer all Syngip shares to Global Bioenergies S.A. The transaction’s completion remains subject to the fulfilment of several suspensive conditions including approval by the shareholders of Global Bioenergies at an extraordinary shareholders meeting to be held on February 2, 2017.
Syngip is a 3rd generation industrial biotech start-up created in 2014 in the Netherlands. It has developed a process to convert gaseous carbon sources such as CO2, CO, and industrial emissions such as syngas, into various valuable chemical compounds. To this end, the company has identified a specific micro-organism capable of growing using these gaseous carbon sources as its sole feedstock, and has developed genetic tools to allow the implementation of artificial metabolic pathways into it.
Syngip’s recent work has been directed to the implementation of metabolic pathways leading to light olefins, major petrochemical molecules, which include isobutene. Global Bioenergies has set the diversification of feedstocks usable in its isobutene process as its new R&D frontier.
– There are clear synergies between Syngip and Global Bioenergies. Combining our technology with Global Bioenergies’ capabilities in metabolic engineering, industrial fermentation and chemical engineering will be a key factor in moving to the industrialization phase. We lose our independence, but it is worth it: the entrepreneurial spirit that drives Global Bioenergies on a daily basis is a very important value for me and all of Syngip’s employees, said Bernhard Güntner, CEO of Syngip in a statement.
Syngip’s acquisition would greatly accelerate the development of a 3rd generation isobutene process based on the use of such resources, an aim that has been part of Global Bioenergies’ strategy for several years. All Syngip employees would be dedicated, as part of the Global Bioenergies group, to developing such a process.
– This Syngip acquisition project is part of our general open innovation strategy, where we look outside of our company for technical elements to reinforce our Group, said Frédéric Pâques, Chief Operations Officer of Global Bioenergies,
