Burcon NutraScience has entered into a joint venture partnership with an investor group to build a new CAD 65 million ($48.3 million) pea protein and canola protein production facility in Western Canada.
The facility, which is planned to initially process approximately 20,000 tonnes of peas per year starting in mid-2020, will produce Burcon’s Peazazz and Peazac pea proteins, as well as the firm’s Supertein, Puratein and Nutratein canola proteins.
Vancouver-headquartered Burcon has established – through a joint venture partnership with an investor group – a new operating entity, Burcon Functional Foods Corporation (Burcon Foods), which will own and operate the new protein production facility.
Burcon currently holds 40% of the shares of Burcon Foods and the investor group owns the remaining 60%. As a standalone entity, the management, sales, marketing and production personnel of Burcon Foods will be direct employees of the new operating company.
Johann Tergesen, Burcon president and CEO, said: “Today’s announcements constitute a truly transformative event for Burcon, and a new chapter in Burcon’s development focused on bringing the company’s unique plant proteins to market directly as a producer.”
He added: Having the capacity to produce both our unique pea proteins, as well as our canola proteins, in our own production facility is a key pillar of our differentiation strategy. The ability to blend our pea and canola proteins to create nutritionally unparalleled plant protein combinations, while preserving the highly desirable functional properties the proteins naturally possess, will give us a true competitive advantage. We look forward to offering our pea and canola protein products to customers and consumers in Canada, North America and worldwide.”
It has also been announced that Burcon Foods has entered into a 20-year exclusive agreement with Burcon to license the technology required to produce, market and sell Burcon’s novel pulse protein ingredients, including Peazazz, Peazac pea proteins, as well as its canola proteins Supertein, Puratein and Nutratein.
Under the terms of the license agreement, Burcon Foods will have exclusive rights across all geographic regions and all product uses for Burcon’s pulse-proteins (including pea) and canola-protein technologies.
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