Amyris, Inc., a leading renewable chemicals and fuels company, announced that its farnesene plant in Brazil has achieved the production run rate of 1 million liters over a 45-day period. Amyris's Chief Executive Officer John Melo will speak later today at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference (ABLCNext) today in San Francisco, California.
"Our farnesene plant in Brazil is operating well, meeting our technology, volumetric and cost targets. With all six fermentors running as planned and with our ongoing production rate, we are on track to achieve our year-end cost targets. Our plant at Brotas is expected to produce more farnesene this year than we produced in our entire prior contract manufacturing operations combined. All told, we have surpassed the 5 million liter production mark," said John Melo in his prepared remarks.
"More importantly, we are growing the market with new, innovative products. Using a blend of renewable diesel, public transit buses in Brazil's largest cities have logged well over 15 million miles, improving performance while reducing emissions. Our cosmetics business has grown over 80% year-on-year following the introduction of Neossance(R) Squalane, our renewable version of this premium emollient," Amyris's CEO added.
The Amyris production facility, located adjacent to the Paraiso sugarcane mill in Brotas, Sao Paulo in Brazil, began commercial operations at the beginning of 2013 and had all six fermentors running in July to align with commercial volume needs. Amyris's farnesene is a renewable hydrocarbon molecule addressing growing demand in a broad range of applications, from diesel and jet fuel to high-performance materials.
ADDITIONAL FUNDING RECEIVED
Amyris's CEO also noted the Company's successful efforts to secure financing saying, "As we announced earlier this week, we received a $35 million loan to provide bridge financing until the closing of the first tranche of our pending convertible note financing, which we expect in the coming weeks."
"By producing 1 million liters of farnesene in a 45-day period, we have surpassed the production performance milestones under the purchase agreement for the financing and are on track to meet the remaining milestones," Melo concluded.
In August 2013, Amyris entered into an agreement for a private placement of senior convertible promissory notes for approximately $60 million in cash proceeds. Two of Amyris's leading stockholders committed to purchase the notes in two tranches. By achieving 1 million liters of production in a 45-day period, Amyris satisfied one of the two conditions required to avoid a reduction in the conversion price of the first-tranche notes (the other being a target for gross margins from product sales) and one of the key closing conditions for the second tranche. Additional information regarding the terms of the financing, including detailed discussion of the triggers for conversion price adjustments and additional closing conditions, is provided in Amyris's regulatory filings.