Global Bioenergies and Synthos Enter a Strategic Partnership on Biological Butadiene, a $30bn Market

EVRY, France and OSWIEÇIM, Poland, July 19, 2011 -

Synthos S.A. (PLDWORY00019 - WSE:
SNS), a European leader in the manufacturing of rubber, and Global
Bioenergies S.A. (FR0011052257 - NYSE Alternext : ALGBE), an
industrial biology company developing sustainable routes to light
olefins, today announce the signing of a partnership agreement to
develop a new process for the conversion of renewable resources
into butadiene, involving research funding, multi-million euro
development fees, royalty payments, repartition of exploitation
rights, and a €1.4m equity investment in Global Bioenergies.

Butadiene, one of the major building blocks of the petrochemical
industry, is presently exclusively produced from oil. About 10mT
are produced each year, of which two thirds are used to manufacture
synthetic rubber. The last third is used to produce nylon, latices,
ABS plastics and other polymers. The spot price of butadiene has
recently rocketed to over $3/kg, and as such the global butadiene
market is estimated at $30bn.

Synthos, a leader in manufacturing synthetic rubber with annual
revenues amounting to over €1bn, and Global Bioenergies, focused on
the development of biological processes to produce light olefins,
have decided to join their strengths to develop and industrialize a
process to convert renewable resources into butadiene.

Both parties have different responsibilities in the project,
with Global Bioenergies taking care of research and process
development at the laboratory level, and Synthos subsequently
taking the process on to the industrialization stage.

Under this agreement Global Bioenergies would receive R&D
funding, multi-million euro development fees, and royalty payments
from Synthos on sales of bio-butadiene for the manufacturing of
rubber. Global Bioenergies will retain the exclusive rights on
non-rubber applications.

Tomasz Kalwat, Chairman of Synthos, states: “We are very much
looking forward to joining forces with Global Bioenergies, a
company developing a unique approach based on synthetic biology.
The development of an eco-friendly and inexpensive bio-butadiene
process prepares Synthos for next generation of rubber, and
contributes to giving Synthos a competitive advantage in the mid-
and long-term future. “

Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies, adds: “This
butadiene program shares many similarities with our isobutene
program, and we expect it will be as successful. The long-term
commitments from Synthos and the fact that we retain the exclusive
exploitation rights on a $10bn market has the potential to create
an important value for our shareholders.”

Furthermore, Synthos’ confidence in Global Bioenergies’ unique
approach is illustrated by a €1.4m investment representing a 3.6%
stake in Global Bioenergies.

Contacts
GLOBAL BIOENERGIES  
Marc DELCOURT - Chairman and CEO
Liliane BRONSTEIN - CFO
E-mail : href="mailto:invest@global-bioenergies.com">invest@global-bioenergies.com

Tel : +33(0)-1-64-98-20-50

SYNTHOS
Agata Koscielnik - Head of Public Relations
E-mail :    synthos-pl@synthosgroup.com
Tel : +48-33-847-42-11

NEWCAP
Emmanuel Huynh
Camille MacFadyen
E-mail : href="mailto:globalbio@newcap.fr">globalbio@newcap.fr
Tel : +33(0)1-44-71-94-99

Benedicte Robert benedicte.robertcss@gmail.com tel:
+33(0)1-60-89-15-08

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