Novozymes A/S Scraps $36 Million Expansion Plan in Cary; 85 New Staffers Head to RTP Instead

December 29, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Bagsvaerd, Denmark-based Novozymes reported December 26 that it will be expanding in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Earlier the company had announced it would be expanding to Cary, N.C. It was expected to add a bioagriculture research and development facility, an investment of $36 million.

The projected also received a $400,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. This provides financial help through local governments to “attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state.” The Cary Town Council approved a $375,000 incentive grant in May, but because of the move to Research Triangle Park, will no longer be in play. If Novozymes wishes to receive state incentives, it will need to find a new local match.

Novozymes plans to spend $36 million for the new facility, which will provide 100 new jobs that pay an average annual wage of $70,000 with benefits.

To date, 85 people have been hired for the new site in Research Triangle Park. “Research is well underway,” company spokesperson Paige Donnelly said in a statement. The research is supporting a $300 million partnership between Novozymes and St. Louis-based Monsanto . The alliance is called “The BioAg Alliance.”

This deal, announced February 2014, is planned to expand research and marketing of a new generation of microbials for agricultural purposes. The two companies performed research across 170,000 field trial plots in 70 locations throughout the U.S.

“The early results from 2013 showed a lot of promise—we discovered several microbes that are demonstrating increased yield in corn and soybeans,” said Monsanto executive VP and chief technology officer Robb Fraley in a statement. “We have expanded testing this year and believe we are on track to discover transformational microbial products farmers can add to their toolbox.”

Novozymes focuses on industrial enzymes, microorganisms and biopharmaceutical ingredients. It was founded in 2000 in a demerger from Novo Nordisk. The company had production facilities in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England and India. It has affiliates and sales offices in more than 30 countries.

Novozymes employs more than 540 people at its North American headquarters in Franklinton, N.C. It expects to move to the new facility in the last half of 2015.

The focus of the researchers at the new facility to increase crop yields. “At the highest level, we’ve got to figure out how to grow a lot more food in a very efficient and sustainable way as we add a lot more people to the planet,” said Adam Monroe, Novozymes’ president of the Americas division in a statement. “This offers an exciting chance to produce a lot more food from the land that we have.”