San Diego, California
February 28, 2007
Significant progress made on
project to develop a novel food-related product
Diversa Corporation
(Nasdaq: DVSA), a leader in the development of high-performance
specialty enzymes, announced today that it has expanded its
collaboration agreement with
Cargill to discover and develop novel enzymes for the
cost-effective production of a proprietary food-related product
designed to help global consumers pursuing healthy lifestyles.
In 2005, Cargill Health and Food Technologies and Diversa
entered into an agreement to develop an innovative, multi-step
enzymatic process to assist in the creation of a new Cargill
product. This resulted in Diversa earning recognition from
Cargill in late 2005 for completing the first phase ahead of
schedule and with technologically superior results. Based on the
success of the initial phase of the project, the companies have
expanded the scope of their collaboration to develop additional
enzymes to facilitate the next steps of production.
"Today's announcement underscores the successful synergy between
Diversa's enzyme development platforms and Cargill's
bioprocessing capabilities and interests," said Edward T.
Shonsey, Diversa's chief executive officer. "It also accentuates
Diversa's ability to efficiently provide custom enzyme solutions
to our partners and collaborators in many different industries.
Our extensive libraries of enzymes hold many novel solutions
just waiting to be discovered. We are excited to expand this
relationship and look forward to building future collaborations
with Cargill in other strategic areas of mutual interest," said
Shonsey.
"This collaboration with Diversa has produced successful results
ahead of our targeted timeline," said Chris Mallett, corporate
vice president, research and development, Cargill. "Our combined
research teams are to be congratulated for meeting a key
technical milestone. We look forward to implementing our
expanded agreement and to the future success of this project."
Since 1994, San Diego-based Diversa Corporation has pioneered
the development of high-performance specialty enzymes. Diversa
possesses the world's broadest array of enzymes derived from
bio-diverse environments as well as patented DirectEvolution(R)
technologies. Diversa customizes enzymes for manufacturers
within the alternative fuel, industrial, and health and
nutrition markets to enable higher throughput, lower costs, and
improved environmental outcomes. On February 12, 2007, Diversa
entered into a merger agreement with Celunol Corp. pursuant to
which a wholly owned subsidiary of Diversa will merge with and
into Celunol, with Celunol as the surviving corporation,
becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Diversa. The proposed
merger transaction is subject to customary closing conditions,
including receipt of certain regulatory approvals and the
approval of the stockholders of Diversa and Celunol.
Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural and
risk management products and services. With 149,000 employees in
63 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge
and experience to collaborate with customers to help them
succeed.
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