MONTREAL – BioAmber Inc. announced operational and financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2017, and the purchase and consolidation of the Mitsui & Co Ltd.'s stake in its Sarnia Joint Venture.
"We are pleased to report our second-quarter 2017 results generated BioAmber's largest quarterly revenue ever. Year to date, we have experienced the greatest acceleration in new customers and new applications since our Sarnia facility was commissioned. Investments in our customer base are resulting in increased sales. Our pipeline is robust and we believe provides us with a solid foundation for 2018," said Mike Hartmann, President of BioAmber Sarnia and Head of Global Sales.
BioAmber also entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Mitsui & Co. Ltd.'s (Mitsui) entire minority equity position in the Sarnia manufacturing joint venture. Following the closing of the transaction, BioAmber Inc. will own 100% of the BioAmber Sarnia production facility. Mitsui's divestiture of its equity stake in the Sarnia joint venture follows a review of its previously announced corporate strategy. Mitsui will still continue to distribute BioAmber's bio-succinic acid in Asia and other markets.
Given Mitsui's longstanding presence in Canada and its shareholding in BioAmber Inc., the parties negotiated terms that allowed Mitsui to achieve its corporate objectives while enabling BioAmber Inc. to assume full ownership of the Sarnia facility.
For the second quarter of 2017, BioAmber reported sales of bio-succinic acid of $4.1 million, a 64% increase over the second quarter of 2016 and 94% over the first quarter of 2017 revenues. Operating expenses for the second quarter of 2017 were 29% lower than the first quarter of 2017. The company reports that nine new customers began buying bio-succinic acid in the second quarter. That brings the total of new customers for the first half of the year to 16.