The Eib, with the Support of the European Commission, Is Financing A 30 Million Loan for Carbios Enzymatic Recycling Technology to Support the Circular Economy
December 20, 2021 at 03:01 pm EST
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Carbios announced the signing of a 30 million loan agreement supported by the European Commission InnovFin Energy Demonstration Programme. The aim of this type of financing is to support high potential innovative projects developed by companies aiming to achieve transformative changes aligned with the EU Climate goals and contribute to the EU industrys leadership in the development of sustainable technologies. Carbios fully meets these criteria with its worlds first enzyme-based processes, which have the potential to contribute to the plastics industry sustainability. In this context, and after a thorough analysis of Carbios business model and the due-diligence led by the EIB over the past year, this loan has been granted to support the strategic industrial and commercial development of Carbios technology of PET1 enzymatic recycling aiming at transforming post-consumer PET plastic and polyester fibers to their original building blocks (monomers) through a biological enzymatic depolymerization process. The EIB loan contract announced reflects Carbios potential to address the growing concern of plastics pollution through the development of its enzymatic recycling process, a disruptive technology that could accelerate the transition to a plastics Circular Economy. Unlike conventional recycling processes, Carbios technology converts PET plastic (the dominant polymer in bottles, trays and textiles made of polyester) into its core monomers, which can then be used for feedstock as new 100% recycled PET suitable for all original applications. At industrial scale, Carbios proprietary technology would allow PET plastic producers to replace petrochemicals with monomers from PET plastic waste, resulting in 100% recycled PET content in new products. This 30 million loan, disbursed in one single tranche by the EIB, carries a fixed semi-annual interest of 5%, with a maturity of 8 years. This agreement is supplemented by a warrants issuance agreement where Carbios will issue 2.5% of the fully diluted share capital in warrants to the benefit of the EIB, of which 1.25% with an exercise price of EUR 40 per share, and 1.25% with an exercise price of EUR 38.8861 per share, corresponding to the volume-weighted average of the trading price of an ordinary Share of the Company over the last three (3) Trading Days preceding the date which is five (5) days prior to the Signing Date. The creation and issuance of these EIB warrants, and therefore the disbursement of the 30 million loan, are subject to the vote by an extraordinary shareholders meeting of Carbios to be held in the first quarter of 2022 of a delegation of authority to the board of directors and to a decision of the board of directors of the Company using such delegation of authority.
Carbios is a green biotech company, developing biological and innovative processes. Through its unique approach of combining enzymes and plastics, Carbios aims to address new consumer expectations and the challenges of a broad ecological transition by taking up a major challenge of our time: plastic and textile pollution. Carbios deconstructs any type of PET (the dominant polymer in bottles, trays, textiles made of polyester) into its basic components which can then be reused to produce new PET plastics with equivalent quality to virgin ones. Carbios successfully started up its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand in 2021. It has now taken another key step towards the industrialization of its process with the construction of a first-of-a-kind unit in partnership with Indorama Ventures.
The Company has also developed an enzymatic biodegradation technology for PLA-based (a bio sourced polymer) single-use plastics. This technology can create a new generation of plastics that are 100% compostable at ambient temperatures, even in domestic conditions, integrating enzymes at the heart of the plastic product.
The Eib, with the Support of the European Commission, Is Financing A €30 Million Loan for Carbios’ Enzymatic Recycling Technology to Support the Circular Economy