DSM Invests In Chinese Biomaterials

DSM's corporate venturing unit has joined in a $20 million round of financing in the Chinese firm Tianjin Green Bio-Science (TGBS). Proceeds are earmarked for construction of a plant in the Tianjin Economic Development Area. The plant is expected to be China's largest producer of fermentation-derived polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). In parallel with the investment, DSM and TGBS will cooperate in creating a new business in biology-based performance materials based on PHA. Construction on the 10,000-metric-ton-per-year plant will start this spring, with production expected in early 2009. Separately, DSM's venturing unit has bought "a significant minority share" in the Dutch company IQ Therapeutics, which develops antibody-based products for biodefense and infectious diseases.