AsianScientist (Aug. 14, 2011) – Malaysia will enter into a joint venture partnership for industrial biotechnology, a sector often referred to as the “third wave” in the biotechnology industry, with South Korea’s CJ Cheiljedang Corporation (CJ) and France’s Arkema SA (ARKEMA).
The partnership, which would be known as CJ Arkema, would have both companies holding equal stakes.
BiotechCorp has been in discussions with CJ and Arkema since May 2010. CJ produces fermentation-based products such as feed amino acids, MSG, and nucleotides, with global manufacturing and business operations in six continents. ARKEMA is a global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer.
Present at the Friday Aug 12 announcement were Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak; Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin; and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Seri Dr. Maximus Johnity Ongkili.
A boon for the global feed additives industry, this investment will allow for the production of bio-methionine to combine both biotechnology advancements and applied chemistry. Bio-methionine is a sulphur amino acid widely used for animal feed in Asia.
Estimated at US$660 million (RM 2 billion) over a period of ten years, it will be the first major investment above RM 1 billion by an international industrial biotechnology company in the country.
The first output, an 80,000 ton bio-methionine production plant and the thiochemicals platform will occupy an area of 70 hectares in East Coast Economic Region’s (ECER) special economic zone, Kertih Polymer Park, Terengganu, and will be operational in 2013.
At the announcement, CJ was represented by Jin-Hyun Kim, Executive Vice President & CEO, CJ Cheiljedang Asia, while ARKEMA was represented by Dominique Namer, President, Arkema Asia Pacific.
Malaysian Biotechnology Corp (BiotechCorp), an agency under MOSTI, was represented by its CEO, Dr. Mohd Nazlee Kamal; representing the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) was its CEO, Jebasingam Issace John.
The investment will further stimulate the growth of the industrial biotechnology sector and provide commercial opportunities for the industry, especially as Malaysia moves into the Commercialization Phase of the National Biotechnology Policy (NBP).
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Source: MOSTI.
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