Cosan S.A. Industria e Comércio (BM&FBovespa:CSAN3) and Amyris, Inc.
(NASDAQ:AMRS) announced today that they have executed a Joint Venture
Implementation Agreement as the final step toward the commencement of
operations in Novvi S.A., the Brazilian company established for the
worldwide development, production and commercialization of renewable
base oils made from Biofene®, Amyris's renewable farnesene. The
companies executed in December 2010 an agreement to set the preliminary
terms and the general conditions to conduct a set of business, technical
and commercial studies and tests with the goal to assess the feasibility
of the formation and implementation of a Joint Venture. The parties have
now completed feasibility studies and are establishing the operating
joint venture entity.
Novvi plans to commercialize a line of synthetic, renewable base oils
for the lubricants market. Novvi's base oils are designed to improve
upon key environmental metrics including biodegradability, toxicity and
renewability when compared with petroleum-sourced base oils, while
delivering performance characteristics comparable to Group III and Group
IV base oils. Novvi expects to source Biofene initially from Amyris
production facilities, convert it through chemical processing into
high-end renewable base oils and market and distribute these base oils
worldwide. Longer term, Novvi may construct dedicated Biofene production
facilities.
"The formation of Novvi provides another important channel for
commercialization of Biofene, and we are pleased to have Cosan as our
partner in this," said Paulo Diniz, chief executive officer of Amyris
Brasil. "We expect Novvi to introduce its first products starting next
year."
"We have completed the market studies and production capabilities
assessment and are now ready to operate our joint venture with Amyris,"
said Nelson Gomes, head of Cosan Lubricants. "The combination of
Amyris's Biofene infrastructure and technology platform with our
feedstock capabilities and supply and distribution infrastructure
creates the foundation for Novvi to become the leader in
high-performance renewable synthetic base oils."
About Amyris
Amyris is an integrated renewable products company focused on providing
sustainable alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products.
Amyris uses its industrial synthetic biology platform to convert plant
sugars into a variety of hydrocarbon molecules - flexible building
blocks which can be used in a wide range of products. Amyris is
commercializing these products both as No Compromise® renewable
ingredients in cosmetics, flavors and fragrances, polymers, lubricants
and consumer products, and also as No Compromise renewable diesel and
jet fuel. Amyris Brasil S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary, has over 100
employees based in Campinas, Brazil and oversees Amyris's production and
commercialization in Brazil. Amyris also has fuel distribution
capabilities in the United States through its subsidiary, Amyris Fuels,
LLC. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com.
About Cosan
Cosan is a fully integrated energy company. Raízen, its joint venture
with Shell, is the world's largest producer of sugar and ethanol from
sugarcane, with crushing capacity of 65 million tons of sugarcane, and
the third largest fuel distributor in Brazil. Cosan is also the third
largest Brazilian lubricants manufacturer and is present in the sugar
logistics for the retail market with the União brand and for exports
through its subsidiary Rumo.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements, and any statements
other than statements of historical facts could be deemed to be
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include,
among other things, statements regarding future events (such as
statements regarding production, commercialization and anticipated
benefits of our products) that involve risks and uncertainties. These
statements are based on management's current expectations and actual
results and future events may differ materially due to risks and
uncertainties, including those associated with any delays or failures in
development, production or commercialization of products, our reliance
on third parties to achieve our goals, and other risks detailed in the
"Risk Factors" section of Amyris's annual report on Form 10-K filed on
March 14, 2011 and on Form 10-Q filed May 11, 2011. Amyris disclaims any
obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking
statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or
otherwise.
Amyris and Biofene are trademarks or registered trademarks of Amyris,
Inc.
Amyris, Inc.
Schwartz Communications
Merrill Freund or Alison
Mickey, 415-817-2557
amyris@schwartzcomm.com
or
Cosan
Máquina
Public Relations, 11 3147-7391
11 3147-7439
Vilma.balint@maquina.inf.br
United Kingdom
France
Deutschland
Schweiz (DE)
