Evolva And Cargill In Deal To Co-develop Steviol Glycosides

Collaboration lays foundation for next evolution in stevia industry

REINACH, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Evolva Holding SA (SIX: EVE) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Cargill to jointly develop and commercialize fermentation-derived steviol glycosides. Cargill will be responsible for commercialization and has agreed to make a CHF 5 million (approximately USD 5.3 million) equity investment in Evolva. Additionally, Evolva stands to receive up to USD 7.5 million in milestone payments and has the right to a 45% participation in the final business. If Evolva decides not to exercise this option it will receive royalty payments from global sales of the co-developed steviol glycoside products; these royalties will scale from mid-single digit to low double-digit percentages as a function of sales volume and other parameters.

“We are very excited about and fully committed to supporting fermentation-based steviol glycoside technology to provide our customers with a wider array of great-tasting options. What’s more, Evolva has proven capabilities to enable this breakthrough in a sustainable way.”

Cargill brings to the collaboration its vast manufacturing and commercial expertise in bulk sweeteners, food ingredients, and of course stevia sweeteners. Cargill is a global market leader in the stevia-based sweetener category with consumer products and as an ingredient, which can be found in a variety of branded food products and beverages sold in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and South America.

Evolva is a pioneer and global leader in sustainable, fermentation-based approaches to ingredients for health, wellness and nutrition, such as stevia, vanilla, saffron and resveratrol, as well as high-value ingredients for the OTC personal care and pharmaceuticals markets.

Stevia (stevia rebaudiana) is grown, harvested and used as a sweetener in many countries around the globe. Its sweet leaves have been consumed for generations. Today, extracts purified from these leaves are used to sweeten a range of zero- and reduced-calorie food and beverage products. Stevia leaves contain a number of individual molecules (known as steviol glycosides) that give them their sweet taste. The only commercially available steviol glycosides available today are derived from stevia plants grown and harvested in an agriculture setting. Evolva believes it is the first company to successfully adapt fermentation technology to produce a range of commercially relevant steviol glycosides, using sustainable, low-cost, carbohydrate feedstocks, which can be sourced virtually anywhere on the planet.

Fermentation-derived steviol glycosides will benefit food and beverage manufacturers in a number of ways:

• First, it will allow better tasting steviol-glycoside-based products (the best-tasting stevia leaf molecules are not currently commercially available due to their very low concentrations in the plant).
• Second, it will allow steviol glycosides to become a more economic product for companies and consumers alike.
• Finally, it will allow steviol glycosides to be produced using a simplified and scalable supply chain.

Evolva and Cargill believe that fermentation-derived steviol glycosides have the potential to unlock more value from this remarkable sweetener.

Cargill VP and Global Business Director for Health Ingredients David Henstrom remarked, “We are very excited about and fully committed to supporting fermentation-based steviol glycoside technology to provide our customers with a wider array of great-tasting options. What’s more, Evolva has proven capabilities to enable this breakthrough in a sustainable way.”

Evolva CEO Neil Goldsmith commented, “Cargill is the perfect partner for Evolva to advance the development, scale-up, and commercialization of fermentation-derived steviol glycosides, not least because they are a global industry leader in the stevia business and a powerhouse in food ingredient production. They are fundamentally changing the sweetener category around the world with their stevia-based sweetener products. We view this collaboration as further evidence that industry has recognized that Evolva’s technology platform represents a uniquely powerful foundation for producing sustainable, next-generation, high-value health, nutrition, and wellness products.”

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Press/analyst conference at 10.00am CET on 6 March 2013

Neil Goldsmith, CEO and Jakob Dynnes Hansen, CFO, will present the stevia partnership in a meeting for media and analysts in SIX Convention Point in Zürich. The meeting will be accessible via dial-in.

The dial-in numbers:

[phone]	Switzerland / Continental Europe
[phone]	UK
+ 1 (1) 866 291 4166	USA – Toll-Free

About Evolva

Evolva’s mission is to discover and provide innovative, sustainable ingredients for health, nutrition and wellness. Evolva uses biosynthetic and evolutionary technologies to create and optimize small molecule compounds and their production routes. Evolva is active in consumer healthcare and nutrition as well as in pharma. In both areas Evolva has partnered projects as well as proprietary programmes. For more information see www.evolva.com.

About Cargill

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 142,000 people in 65 countries. Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to sharing its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business. For more information, visit www.cargill.com.

This press release does neither constitute an offer to buy or to subscribe for securities of Evolva Holding SA nor a prospectus within the meaning of applicable Swiss law. A decision to invest in securities of Evolva Holding SA should be based exclusively on the issue and listing prospectus published by Evolva Holding SA for such purpose.

This press release contains specific forward-looking statements, e.g. statements including terms like believe, assume, expect or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may result in a substantial divergence between the actual results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and those explicitly or implicitly presumed in these statements. Against the background of these uncertainties readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The company assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements or to adapt them to future events or developments.