Votorantim Group invests in new businesses
Press Release, 01/06/2006

Votorantim Group is always investing in technology and new businesses. It has invested US$ 30 million in the Alellyx and CanaVialis companies in Campinas in Sao Paulo state with the aim of making them benchmarks in terms of state-of-the-art research.

The two companies belong to Votorantim New Businesses, the investment arm of the Group’s technological initiatives. The companies´ objectives are to create lucrative innovations in the area between biotechnology and agricultural research on one hand and agribusiness on the other.

Alellyx was founded by five molecular biologists who took part in the sequencing of the genome of the Xylella fastidiosa bacteria which causes the "yellow disease" in oranges. Alellyx is transforming knowledge into wealth, an area with little tradition in Brazil and where there are few investors.

The Votorantim Group´s strategy in the biotechnology and agribusiness area is to find cultures which the large multinationals are not yet focusing on but which are important for Brazil and are of interest to large agribusiness groups. With this in mind, the decision was made to invest in research and ways of making improvements in oranges, sugar cane and eucalyptus.

Alellyx has 130 employees and carries out transgenic research to combat disease and increase the productivity of these three plants. The Company has contracts to take advantage of its discoveries in other parts of the Votorantim Group. These include Votorantim Pulp and Paper (VCP), in the case of eucalyptus, Citrovita for oranges and CanaVialis itself, which is also a technology-based company, in the case of sugar cane.

Alellyx has already produced important innovations and a number of these are in the process of being patented. These breakthroughs include: the discovery and sequencing of the genome of the virus which causes the "sudden death" disease in oranges; sequencing the genome of the leprosy virus to produce plants which are resistant to the disease; genetic changes which increase the amount of pulp in plants; sugar cane which is resistant to the mosaic virus; and sugar cane with genes which increases the quantity of sucrose by up to 30%, increasing the productivity of the sugar production.

CanaVialis, for its part, provides consultancy services on managing varieties of sugar cane to farmers, carries out research into new varieties for cross-breeding and produces and sells seeds. Through its genetic improvement program, CanaVialis produces 1.5 million varieties a year. The company is particularly strong in innovations in terms of the processes and management of research, incorporating industrial techniques to become more flexible and rationalize the handling of new varieties, and identifying discoveries with commercial potential.