Lygos to merge with FSI

Sorry for the lack of post but I am preparing to give presentations for two conferences in the next three weeks located on two different continents. I am not sure if I’m ready to go back into the live conference frenzy given my already tight schedule for my Bio-Materials reporting at Tecnon OrbiChem (among other duties) so we will see.

For this news, I first started covering Lygos in 2015 when they successfully produced sugar-based malonic acid at pilot scale at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit in Emeryville, California. Since then, the company has expanded their fermentation abilities with other types of specialty chemicals including cannabinoids and aspartic acid.

Lygos announced this week that it is merging with Flexible Solutions International (FSI), a developer and manufacturer of biodegradable products, for an all-stock transaction.  The companies plan to integrate their complementary technology platforms, expand the portfolio of multi-functional organic acids, and scale production.  Lygos also secured $160 million in growth capital in support of the merger.

Lygos issued $160 million worth of convertible notes with a 5.5% fixed annual interest rate and a five-year maturity. The conversion price of the convertible note will be set 12 months to the date of the note, and the pricing terms will be set upon the trading price of the future equity but will be set within a market capitalization range of no less than $250 million or no greater than $350 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022.

Over the past four years, Lygos and FSI have been leveraging Lygos’ proprietary fermentation technology platform to improve the performance of FSI’s biodegradable, water-soluble cleaning and water treatment solutions using derivatives of bio-aspartic acid. The Lygos platform utilizes the latest advances in bioengineering and data science to convert sustainable sugars into multi-functional organic acids.

NanoChem Solutions, a subsidiary of FSI, has been working with Lygos to develop Lygos’ bio-aspartic acid (as part of a grant from the US Department of Energy) to produce thermal polyaspartate (TPA) polymers which is reportedly a safe and sustainable alternative to polyacrylic acid, a key ingredient for a broad set of industrial agriculture, water treatment and chemical applications. According to Lygos, millions of pounds of PAC are produced every year with a petrochemical process that often ends up polluting bodies of water and food supplies.

I am curious how Lygos’ bio-based malonic acid project has been progressing as the last time I covered this product for Tecnon OrbiChem,  Lygos has been using contract manufacturing to demonstrate its Bio-Malonate process. The company has partnerships with Sirrus (owned by Nippon Shokubai) and BASF for the use of bio-based malonates in coatings and adhesives. Tecnon OrbiChem has a chemical profile on malonic acid published in September 2020.