Date: May 20, 2014 Source: Business Wire (
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MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Calysta Energy, Inc. (www.calysta.com) today announced the acquisition of BioProtein A/S (www.bioprotein.no), based in Stavanger, Norway. Through this acquisition, Calysta is entering the rapidly growing $370 billion nutritional market for fish and livestock feed and feed additives. Calysta is a developer of novel natural gas conversion technology using methane for high value chemicals and fuels. The BioProtein technology is the only commercial scale process available to directly convert natural gas into biological products. BioProteinTM, the protein feed produced using BioProtein's technology, is approved for sale and has been commercially marketed in the European Union.
"Demand is strong in the commercial fish and agriculture market for new sustainable protein sources. BioProtein's expertise in process technology and nutrition metabolism in animal health complements Calysta's broad capabilities in synthetic biology and biocatalysis for development of methane as a new biological feedstock."
Combining its proprietary BioGPS™ technology platform with technology from BioProtein, Calysta intends to produce proteins and other key ingredients of high nutritional value through the fermentation of methane, the primary component of natural gas. These nutrients can be used to improve the quality and sustainability of commercial fish and animal feed. In particular, the high-quality protein generated by Calysta's process can serve as a direct replacement for fish meal, a major component of many commercial livestock feeds. Fish meal is currently produced from wild, commercially caught fish, adding unsustainable pressure to ocean ecosystems.
"With this acquisition, Calysta intends to expand our methane conversion portfolio into a new high growth market, significantly accelerating market introduction of products based on our combined technology," said Alan Shaw, Ph.D., Chairman, President and CEO. "Demand is strong in the commercial fish and agriculture market for new sustainable protein sources. BioProtein's expertise in process technology and nutrition metabolism in animal health complements Calysta's broad capabilities in synthetic biology and biocatalysis for development of methane as a new biological feedstock."
"We are excited to join forces with Calysta," said Torkell Gjerstad, Managing Director at IRIS R&D Invest, BioProtein's major shareholder. "The combined company will have the technology, team and market understanding to ensure the fullest attention to both the nutrition and chemicals business segments. BioProtein's fermentor technology has been proven in full scale commercial operations, and its extension into the chemicals market will further strengthen the leading position of a sound, commercially attractive business case in a broad set of industry applications."
Beyond providing a sustainable replacement for fish meal that does not compete with any human food sources, Calysta's technology also provides a direct route to key vitamins and other health promoting compounds for animal feed. Carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids and other vitamins can be produced from methane, as well as other key compounds to improve the health and quality of livestock while reducing the need for antibiotics or hormones. Calysta expects to evaluate construction of a manufacturing facility in the United States.
To reflect the new multi-industry focus, Calysta Energy, Inc. is changing its name to Calysta, Inc. The new company will have two primary business units. Calysta Energy will continue the current programs in development of its Biological Gas-to-Liquids® and Biological Gas-to-Chemicals® technologies using methane as a feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals. Calysta Nutrition will focus on the development of a range of nutritional products from methane. Alan Shaw, Ph.D., currently Calysta's Chairman, President and CEO, will continue in those roles in the new entity. Both companies are privately held. Further terms were not disclosed.
About Calysta
Calysta, Inc. (www.calysta.com), Menlo Park, CA, is an innovator in industrial products from sustainable sources. Calysta Energy is developing new Biological Gas-to-Liquids® and Biological Gas-to-Chemicals® technologies using methane, the primary component of natural gas. The technology allows conversion of a plentiful energy resource into high value chemicals and transportation fuels with cost and performance advantages over current processes. Calysta Nutrition develops and commercializes fish and livestock nutritional products based on gas fermentation of methane. Calysta Nutrition has operations in Stavanger, Norway. It was created from Calysta's acquisition of BioProtein AS in 2014.
