DYADIC ENTERS INTO RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH ABENGOA BIOENERGY IN THE AREA OF
CELLULOSIC ETHANOL PRODUCTION
ABENGOA BIOENERGY TO PURCHASE $10
MILLION OF DYADIC COMMON STOCK
Jupiter,
Florida, October 27, 2006. Dyadic International, Inc. ( AMEX:
DIL ), a biotechnology company, today announced that it has
signed a three-year research and development (R&D) agreement
and a stock purchase agreement with Abengoa Bioenergy R&D, Inc.
(ABRD), an Abengoa Bioenergy Company focusing on research and
development. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, Abengoa
Bioenergy has agreed to invest $10 million in Dyadic, for which it
will be issued 2,136,752 shares of Dyadic Common Stock at $4.68 per
share (based on the closing sales price on October 25, 2006, as
reported on the American Stock Exchange). The closing of the sale
of the common shares is subject to approval of the listing of the
shares by the American Stock Exchange and other customary closing
conditions. After the closing, under certain circumstances,
additional securities may be issuable to ABRD. Cowen and Company,
LLC, acted as an advisor to Dyadic.
Dyadic will use
the proceeds from this private sale to fund its R&D obligations
under the R&D agreement, which has as its objective the
development of a cost-effective enzyme production system for
commercial application in Abengoa Bioenergy’s bioethanol
(cellulosic ethanol) production process. The R&D agreement,
which does not become effective until the private sale closes,
calls upon Dyadic to use its proprietary technologies to develop
one or more enzyme mixture manufacturing systems customized to
ABRD’s proprietary biomass substrates. The R&D agreement
contemplates that Dyadic will perform both foundational research of
general application to the cellulosic ethanol field and specific
applications research for the achievement of the goals of
ABRD’s program. Under the terms of the R&D agreement, if
Dyadic successfully develops one or more enzyme manufacturing
systems for Abengoa Bioenergy, Dyadic may be entitled to receive
license fees, technology transfer fees and royalties on ethanol
sales. Other financial terms were not disclosed.
“Abengoa
Bioenergy is considered to be the second largest ethanol producer
in the world and a leader in the fields of both corn-derived and
cellulose-derived ethanol production. We are extremely pleased to
partner with Abengoa Bioenergy to leverage Dyadic’s patented
C1 platform enzyme technology to enable commercial development of
biomass derived ethanol,” said Glenn E. Nedwin, Ph.D., Chief
Science Officer for Dyadic.
“We
recognized that Dyadic’s enzyme technology, especially in the
field of cellulosic ethanol, is state-of-the-art,” said
Gerson Santos-Leon, R&D Director of Abengoa Bioenergy.
“Abengoa Bioenergy is looking forward to working with Dyadic
in the development of large-scale enzyme production systems and
manufacturing processes for use in the production of abundant low
cost fermentable sugars from biomass, with initial focus on
cellulosic ethanol production.”
“We are
very excited to enter into this partnership with Abengoa
B
