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Windhoek, Namibia and Rehovot,
Israel
September 10, 2008
L.L Biofuel Namibia (PTY) Ltd. of
the Leviev Group and
Evogene Ltd. (TASE:EVGN)
today announced that together
with Orfuel Inc., a US subsidiary of
Ormat Industries Ltd
(TASE:ORMAT), they have signed an agreement to establish a new
company focused on the growth of specialized castor plants for
use as feedstock for biodiesel. The new company will be
headquartered in Namibia, with operations in Namibia and
possibly other locations in
Africa.
According to the terms of the
agreement, the new company will examine various castor varieties
in field tests in Namibia, and following the selection of best
performing varieties, the new company will work to commercialize
and grow the selected varieties on a commercial scale in
Namibia, and possibly in other locations in Africa.
Evogene will provide the new company with the castor varieties
for evaluation, and will utilize its knowledge and capabilities
in plant growth. The Leviev Group will provide access to lands
for crop growth in Namibia and logistical infrastructure for the
project. In addition, the Leviev Group will contribute its
experience and knowledge in
establishing projects in Namibia and in other southern African
countries.
The castor varieties to be supplied by Evogene will be selected
from varieties being developed in a previously announced
collaboration between Evogene and Orfuel, initiated in September
2007. Under this collaboration, which has received a grant from
the BIRD Foundation (Israel-US Binational Industrial Research
and Development
Foundation), Evogene and Orfuel are jointly developing non
edible plants, such as castor, for biodiesel commercial
production. A special focus of this collaboration is that these
plants can be grown commercially in non arable areas.
Castor is a high oil yielding crop and there are vast non arable
lands available in Namibia that potentially could be used for
this purpose. Thus it is anticipated that the cost of biodiesel
feedstock produced using specialized castor crops grown in
Namibia is expected to be significantly lower than cost of
biodiesel produced from crops
currently used for this purpose, such as soybean and canola.
Eli Nefussy, CEO of the Leviev Group in Namibia stated:
"Innovation is one of the key elements guiding the business
strategy of the Leviev Group. Renewable energy and alternative
fuels are fields of high importance to the Leviev Group. I am
confident that the experience of the Leviev Group in Africa
together with the
technology and knowledge of Evogene and Orfuel through the
utilization of arable lands will result in breakthroughs in
these fields. We are pleased to be partners in such an
innovative project, and hope that this collaboration will be a
significant layer in creating renewable resources."
"This collaboration fits well into Evogene's business model in
the field of biodiesel, and constitutes an additional stage
towards commercialization of the plants developed through the
joint project with Orfuel in one of the potential target
locations," stated Ofer Haviv, Evogene's president and CEO. "We
are convinced that with our extensive capabilities in plants
together with the vast experience of the Leviev Group in Africa,
we will be able to develop improved feedstock addressing the
needs of the alternative fuel industry."
The activity of Leviev Group, to which L.L Biofuel Namibia
(PTY) Ltd. belongs, includes various companies worldwide (in
America, Europe, Africa, far east and other), which deal with
real-estate, green construction, construction and
infrastructures, mining, diamonds, international trade, energy
and oil and other. The Leviev Group has been operating in Africa
for several years, and has extensive experience in the continent
in various fields. The Group is active in Namibia through
mining, diamond refinement, constructions, infrastructure and
agriculture.
Evogene is a leading developer of improved plants for the
ag-biotech and biofuel industries. The Company’s proprietary
product development platform combines world leading
computational gene discovery technologies, high throughput
selection systems and advanced breeding methods. The platform’s
computational biology component - the ATHLETE - is based on
Compugen's (Nasdaq: CGEN) in-silico predictive discovery
capabilities. Evogene's current programs focus on yield under
normal and various environmental stress conditions (such as
drought), fertilizer utilization and the improvement of plants
specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene has collaboration and
licensing agreements with world leading companies in the
ag-biotech and alternative energy industries. Evogene's
headquarters are in Rehovot, Israel, and its stock is traded on
the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:EVGN). |
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