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Hayward, California
March 30, 2007
Mendel Biotechnology, Inc.
("Mendel") today announced the acquisition of the entire
Miscanthus breeding program from Tinplant Biotechnik und
Pflanzenvermehrung GmbH ("Tinplant"), a German breeding and
plant science company. Miscanthus is one of the leading
candidates for dedicated energy crops for production of biofuels
such as ethanol from lignocellulosic plant material. This
acquisition positions Mendel to be the leading developer of
Miscanthus varieties for the cellulosic ethanol industry
worldwide.
"We are extremely pleased to have been able to bring Tinplant's
Miscanthus germplasm collection and developed varieties into our
breeding program" said Neal Gutterson, Mendel's President and
Chief Executive Officer. "We are equally excited about the
establishment of a breeding collaboration with Tinplant, which
has been the leader to date in Miscanthus variety development.
This relationship will also give us a presence in Europe for
further development and commercialization activities."
"The Tinplant Team has spent 15 years of research and breeding
of more than 1000 different Miscanthus varieties in order to
improve the excellent properties of this high yielding bio-mass
plant for our environment and future generations', noted
Frederick Hoelk, sole owner of Tinplant GmbH. "I am very excited
about our collaboration with Mendel Biotechnology Inc. and about
the worldwide exposure of Miscanthus through Mendel. I am
pleased and excited that Tinplant's vision is becoming a
reality."
The detailed terms of the acquisition were not made available.
However, the transaction includes a 5-year collaboration between
Mendel and Tinplant for ongoing breeding work, and establishes
Tinplant as a sales agent for Mendel's Miscanthus varieties.
Founded in 1997, Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., a closely-held
private company, has been a pioneer in the application of
functional genomics to the study of plant genes. Mendel has
identified and patented the use of genes that control many
aspects of plant growth and development, and is using such
inventions to develop or co-develop new plant varieties with
improved productivity and quality. Mendel has relationships with
leading agricultural, forestry and horticulture companies for
the commercialization of improved seed and plant products,
including Monsanto. Mendel is developing new seed products for
the emerging bioenergy market, focused on seeds and feedstock
products for the cellulosic ethanol industry.
TINPLANT Biotechnik und Pflanzenvermehrung GmbH was founded in
1992 based on the privatization of the experimental nursery
station of the Institute of Sugar Beet Research of the former
Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Berlin. The company
specializes on in-vitro propagation and repository tasks of a
wide range of horticultural and medicinal plants as well as
trees. Tinplant has, since its inception, conducted an intensive
breeding program for Miscanthus, a promising grass for biofuel
production (and raw material for the construction industry),
which included an extensive collection of Miscanthus genotypes
from other countries. |
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