Gevo Acquires Butamax Patent Estate
September 23 2021 - 9:00AM
Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is pleased to announce that it has
entered into an asset purchase agreement, dated September 21, 2021,
with Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC (“Butamax”) and its affiliate,
Danisco US Inc., to acquire certain patents, leaving Gevo as the
only entity with full rights to sublicense the entire Gevo/Butamax
isobutanol and isobutanol derivatives patent estate in the fields
of fuels, isooctane, industrial chemicals, isobutylene,
oligomerized isobutylene, and para-xylene (the “Asset Purchase
Agreement”). The transaction contemplated by the Asset Purchase
Agreement closed on September 21, 2021 and is subject to certain
existing rights and obligations.
The Asset Purchase Agreement provides Gevo with direct ownership
and management over the entire known isobutanol patent portfolio of
Butamax. Butamax previously entered into a patent cross-license
agreement with Gevo effective as of August 22, 2015 (the
“Patent-Cross License Agreement”). The Asset Purchase Agreement
terminates the Patent-Cross License Agreement in most respects.
In 2020, Gevo commissioned Peak Value IP, LLC to complete a
valuation of its worldwide intellectual property that could be
licensed and monetized by Gevo. This valuation included the
Butamax-owned patents available for Gevo to use and the Gevo-owned
patents, patent applications, trade secrets, and know-how
(collectively, the “IP”). Peak Value’s analysis yielded an
indicative investment valuation of approximately $412 million for
the full scope of the Gevo IP portfolio. The Butamax patent estate
acquisition is expected to increase Gevo’s intellectual property
value, now that Gevo owns the Butamax patents.
“Gevo is ‘all in’ on IBA-related technologies. We are finding
strong commercial demand for our products. So, it simply makes
sense for us to own the patent estate. In addition, it gives us
more flexibility in adding to the combined patent estate and
eliminates the complexity for out-licensing that existed under the
Patent Cross-License Agreement,” commented Dr. Chris Ryan,
President and Chief Operating Officer of Gevo.
For more information and details about the Asset Purchase
Agreement and the termination of the Patent Cross-License
Agreement, please see the Current Report on Form 8-K that Gevo
filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September
23, 2021.
About GevoGevo’s mission is to transform
renewable energy and carbon into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons.
These liquid hydrocarbons can be used for drop-in transportation
fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel, that when burned
have potential to yield net-zero greenhouse gas emissions when
measured across the full life cycle of the products. Gevo uses
low-carbon renewable resource-based carbohydrates as raw materials,
and is in an advanced state of developing renewable electricity and
renewable natural gas for use in production processes, resulting in
low-carbon fuels with substantially reduced carbon intensity (the
level of greenhouse gas emissions compared to standard petroleum
fossil-based fuels across their life cycle). Gevo’s products
perform as well or better than traditional fossil-based fuels in
infrastructure and engines, but with substantially reduced
greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to addressing the problems of
fuels, Gevo’s technology also enables certain plastics, such as
polyester, to be made with more sustainable ingredients. Gevo’s
ability to penetrate the growing low-carbon fuels market depends on
the price of oil and the value of abating carbon emissions that
would otherwise increase greenhouse gas emissions. Gevo believes
that its proven, patented technology enabling the use of a variety
of low-carbon sustainable feedstocks to produce price-competitive
low-carbon products such as gasoline components, jet fuel and
diesel fuel yields the potential to generate project and corporate
returns that justify the build-out of a multi-billion-dollar
business. Gevo believes that the Argonne National Laboratory GREET
model is the best available standard of scientific-based
measurement for life cycle inventory or LCI. Learn more at Gevo’s
website: www.gevo.com
Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements in
this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to a variety of
matters, without limitation, including the Asset Purchase
Agreement, the termination of the Patent Cross-License Agreement,
the acquisition of the patents from Butamax, Gevo’s control over
patents for the production of renewable isobutanol, the benefits of
the acquisition of patents, the IP evaluation performed by Peak
Value IP, LLC, Gevo’s ability to monetize any patents, and other
statements that are not purely statements of historical fact. These
forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current
beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Gevo and
are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking
statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date they are made, and Gevo undertakes no obligation to update
or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Although Gevo believes that the
expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are
reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties
that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be
expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a
further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ from those expressed in these
forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the
business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual
Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2020,
and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings
made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Gevo.
Investor and Media Contact+1
720-647-9605IR@gevo.com
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