Novamont acquires Tecnogen

Novamont has completed the acquisition of a company branch of Tecnogen, a biotechnology research centre controlled by SigmaTau Finanziaria that had been undergoing a process of liquidation for several months. The new acquisition comprises the plant in Piana di Monte Verna (Caserta, Italy), the tangible assets, authorizations, licences and permits not relating to the pharmaceutical business. "With this operation, we intend to increase our critical mass and move forward with maximum determination on the initial phase of the Novamont biotechnology platform, which will allow the company to grow further through greater integration between industrial chemical and biotechnological processes," stated Catia Bastioli, Novamont Managing Director.
Thanks to an agreement with the unions, 12 Tecnogen employees will immediately join the staff of Novamont, and another six, who are willing to move, can be hired in the Adria-Bottrighe plant (Rovigo, Italy), operated by the subsidiary Materbiotech, as soon as production of 1,4-biobutanediol begins. "The closure of Tecnogen would have meant the loss of an extraordinary group of plants and technologies for the development of fermentation processes and the dispersion of important knowledge and capabilities that have developed over the years in the Campania region. Our initiative has the ambition of proving that the new sector of bio-economy based on continual innovation can accelerate its development, taking advantage of capabilities that would otherwise have been lost for the country's growth," concluded Bastioli.