BRAIN and WeissBioTech join forces

Strategic partnership implementing direct access to the industrial enzyme market

Biotechnology company BRAIN and enzyme specialist WeissBioTech GmbH have formed a strategic partnership in the rapidly growing industrial enzyme sector. Through this strategic move BRAIN has obtained direct access to the lucrative industrial enzyme market. Together with its partner WeissBioTech, BRAIN now established a growing international company network with worldwide access to an extensive range of enzymes and producer strains, as well as the associated technologies required for identification, development and production of products based on enzymes and biocatalysts for consumers and business partners.

The strategic investment of BRAIN into WeissBioTech was made to get access to an established and lucrative enzyme business and also, in order to strengthen the position of WeissBioTech in the enzyme market in future business. The further details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Through the establishment of this strategic partnership, the two companies together combine more than 500 FTE years of experience in applying their respective enzyme and production expertise in the field of White Biotechnology.

The new strategic partnership combines the complementary disciplines of high sophisticated research on enzymes and biocatalysts with development, production and distribution of technical enzymes to the market.

BRAIN and WeissBioTech aim to work together to discover, develop and implement the most economic solutions for established and emerging markets like grain processing for bio-energy and food applications. WeissBioTech currently has more than 100 enzyme products in its range and sold several thousand tons of enzyme products during 2013 in more than 50 countries on all continents.

Within this strategic partnership that product portfolio will continuously be expanded. Every year between 2 and 4 product candidates and concepts are being developed for a variety of industrial applications and markets through the enzyme related R&D activities at BRAIN. The intensification of the companies` joint activities is of particular interest in the fast growing enzyme sector, where “all natural” concepts combined with proven efficiency are increasingly important for both, enzyme suppliers and end users.

“WeissBioTech has been working intensively on its production and sales units for the enzyme industry for several years. The strategic partnership with the leading biotech company BRAIN makes it possible to bridge the gap between the identification of various novel enzymes on the one hand and the development, production and marketing to the target industries on the other,” explains Hans de Bie, CEO of WeissBioTech. “Through this alliance with its long-standing partner BRAIN, the company will be strengthened further, but will continue to operate as an independent entity”. “The synergy between the two companies can be found clearly in the establishment of the complete value chain from discovery to market. BRAIN, being the innovator, and WeissBioTech having the regulatory, production and sales know-how in place,” says Dr. Jürgen Eck, CTO of BRAIN, about the importance of the new partnership. “The alliance combines the development of novel enzymes and biocatalysts as well as proprietary production strains. Additionally it offers the opportunity to optimise both enzymes, in terms of properties such as stability and solubility, as well as production processes in terms of efficiency and sustainability.”

The new alliance will start with a clear focus on a well-defined number of specialty enzyme segments (e.g. grain/starch processing, beverages and food enzymes, as well as emerging markets such as plant health and nutrition) with more segments to come. In these segments, the two partners have both, an in depth application knowledge and a strong technical background. The technical expertise is complemented by a strong product portfolio and in-depth customer knowledge. The technical background and market intelligence will from now on be synergistically used to grow the successful business in a well-established yet still growing market.

Enzymes are one of the main products of the White Biotechnology market. Since the early 1970s enzymes have become of growing importance for our daily lives and the manufacturing of various goods for consumer and industrial markets. Technical enzymes are produced by microbial manufacturing systems in closed environments and serve as amazing natural catalysts, which speed up many technical processes that have replaced a number of traditional chemical manufacturing steps. In 2013 the total global enzyme market had a volume of approximately €3 billion. Between 2006 (market volume €1.6 billion) and 2012 the enzyme market showed an annual growth rate of 8 – 12 percent.

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Enzyme-Tanks at the WeissBioTech site from which on customers demand process-relevant enzyme-mixtures and formulations are produced.
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50.000 L Multi-Purpose Enzyme-Production Plant.

Source

BRAIN AG, WeissBioTech GmbH, common press release, 2014-11-27.

Supplier

BRAIN AG - Biotechnology Research And Information Network AG
WeissBioTech GmbH

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