Economy & Economic Development  April 30, 2015

Some OPX Biotechnologies employees to lose jobs following Cargill acquisition

BOULDER – A yet-to-be-determined number of Boulder-based OPX Biotechnologies’ 35 employees will lose their jobs in the coming months following Cargill’s acquisition of the local company’s technology and assets, OPX’s chief executive said Thursday.

The acquisition was announced Wednesday, with Cargill stating that OPX would lend support through a transition period.

OPX chief executive Mike Rosenberg said in a phone interview Thursday that his company would operate as OPX for the next six to nine months. At that point, Cargill will move the technology and operations to its Minneapolis headquarters, and OPX will shut down.

He said an undetermined number of employees will join Cargill. Some will consult for Cargill. And the rest will be let go. Rosenberg said his own status remains up in the air as well.

“Unfortunately, that’s one of those things that will be decided over time,” Rosenberg said.

Founded in 2007, OPX has developed proprietary fermentation-based processes and systems in which bio-based chemicals are produced from sugars for use in non-food applications like lubricants, detergents, plastics, agrichemicals and personal-care products.

The company’s efficiency-directed genome engineering (EDGE) process was developed at the University of Colorado by professor Ryan Gill and one of his doctoral students. They spun off the technology to found OPX. Since then the company had raised $64 million in venture capital, with Denver-based Altira participating in OPX’s Series B and C rounds.

OPX, which is pre-revenue, is headquartered at 2425 55th St.

Terms of the deal with Cargill were not disclosed. In its announcement, Cargill noted that the deal expands the company’s presence in commercial fermentation products outside of food and feed.

“Our customers that make products in any of these categories will benefit from this technology acquisition because it will enable us to produce more and better solutions for them than they can get from any other company,” Cargill Corn Milling vice president Brian Silvey said in a press release. “It will also make bio-based products with extensive functionality more readily available than ingredients produced using petroleum-based or tropical oils.”

BOULDER – A yet-to-be-determined number of Boulder-based OPX Biotechnologies’ 35 employees will lose their jobs in the coming months following Cargill’s acquisition of the local company’s technology and assets, OPX’s chief executive said Thursday.

The acquisition was announced Wednesday, with Cargill stating that OPX would lend support through a transition period.

OPX chief executive Mike Rosenberg said in a phone interview Thursday that his company would operate as OPX for the next six to nine months. At that point, Cargill will move the technology and operations to its Minneapolis headquarters, and OPX will shut down.

He said an undetermined number of employees will…

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