Australia-based Nufarm Limited’s seed-technology arm has recently closed the acquisition of substantially all of Yield10 Bioscience’s assets, completing a transaction first outlined in mid-2024. The deal, finalized in January 2025, transfers Yield10’s entire camelina R&D portfolio—including omega-3, herbicide tolerance, and bio-energy traits—for a consideration of up to USD $5 million, as set out in the October 2024 asset-purchase agreement.
The divestment caps a severe financial unwind at Yield10. The company was forced off Nasdaq in May 2024 for failing to meet the $2.5 million minimum equity requirement, and its shares have been trading over the counter since the suspension. Liquidity continued to deteriorate, leading Yield10 and its two affiliates to file Chapter 11 petitions in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on December 6, 2024, and to seek court approval for the asset sale, which is now closed.
Yield10’s technology roots run much deeper. Under its original name, Metabolix Inc. (founded in 1992), the firm pioneered the industrial-scale production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastics. A 50,000-ton-per-year PHA plant, built in collaboration with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in Clinton, Iowa, began operating in 2010. However, the ADM–Metabolix joint venture Telles was dissolved in February 2012 due to poor economics, which stalled market uptake. Metabolix sold the biopolymer IP and inventories to CJ CheilJedang for USD $10 million in 2016 and rebranded as Yield10 Bioscience in January 2017 to focus on crop-trait engineering.
Even after pivoting, Yield10 continued to explore PHA, this time by engineering Camelina sativa seeds to co-accumulate poly-3-hydroxybutyrate and oil. Prototype lines reported in 2021 produced up to 6 weight percent PHB in mature seeds and were advanced to acre-scale field tests. However, commercialisation never materialised before the company’s cash crunch. Those early-stage PHA Camelina traits now sit alongside the omega-3 and bio-energy assets in Nufarm’s portfolio, positioning the Australian group to decide whether any of the technology merits further development.
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