MBI acquires manufacturing plant in Michigan

By CnAgri2012-08-06 19:09:06 Print

Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (MBI) announced today that it has acquired an 11,400-square-foot manufacturing facility on 11 acres in Bangor, Michigan. The Marrone Michigan Manufacturing facility will provide MBI with the necessary capacity to advance its growing pipeline of natural pest management products, or biopesticides, for the agriculture and water treatment markets.

"This marks a significant milestone for MBI," said CEO Pam Marrone, Ph.D. "Having our own manufacturing facility will be a tremendous asset to us - both in terms of cost effectiveness and quality assurance for our existing products and as we seek to rapidly advance our pipeline of new products from development to commercialization."

The site is formerly a biodiesel production facility, and recently migrated to glycerin production. MBI will begin retrofitting and repurposing the site for fermentation this month, and intends to initiate manufacturing in early 2013. In addition to the manufacturing plant, the site includes offices and a laboratory. The facility will initially employ 20-30 people, and MBI intends to increase employment to 50 workers over the next few years.

MBI anticipates manufacturing GrandevoTM, a broad-spectrum bioinsecticide for controlling insects and mites, as well as Zequanox®, the industry's first naturally derived product for controlling invasive zebra and quagga mussels at the new facility. In addition to Grandevo and Zequanox, MBI has several early stage products that if developed will ultimately be manufactured in Bangor. Those include a novel EPA-approved bioherbicide and an additional insecticide, currently undergoing EPA review. Additionally, the company has several nematicide, herbicide, fungicide, algaecide and plant health product candidates under development that could be produced at the site.

MBI's executive team has extensive experience acquiring, developing and operating fermentation facilities. Kent Sproat, vice president of manufacturing, working with Don Glidewell, MBI chief financial officer, will oversee the development of the manufacturing site.

"With this acquisition we lay the cornerstone of our manufacturing strategy," Glidewell said. "We anticipate that operating our own site will provide MBI additional capacity and flexibility to efficiently manufacture new products. At the same time, MBI will maintain certain strategic contract manufacturing partnerships, which we expect will mitigate the risk of single source of production."

A groundbreaking ceremony for the facility will be held on August 21.