Regulatory Filings • Oct 6, 2017
Regulatory Filings
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Lyon, 6th October 2017
Amoéba, an innovative company developing a disruptive biological biocide capable of eliminating waterborne bacterial risk (legionella, pseudomonas, listeria, etc.) has received financing worth EUR 20m from the EIB. This EIB financing is secured by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the cornerstone of the Investment Plan for Europe, commonly known as the Juncker Plan.
This EU financing will enable Amoéba to speed up its production capacity whilst supporting the development of its international business. It will also make a valuable contribution to its investments in research, development and innovation (RDI). Amoéba aims to revolutionise water treatment via a biological process that can protect the environment from chemical products. The entirely natural solution proposed by Amoéba offers a more effective alternative to the chemical treatments traditionally used in the industrial sector. It also complies with the new regulations governing chemical emissions into the environment. Given the scope of the worldwide market for chemical biocides (EUR 21bn), Amoéba is initially concentrating on the segment of industrial air-cooled towers (ACT) estimated to be worth EUR 1.7bn.
"This financing illustrates the priority we are giving to the environment and innovation", said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle at the signing ceremony. "It will enable Amoéba to support the development of its innovative biological biocide, which offers an alternative to other forms of water treatment, and increase its production capacity. This loan, which comes under the Juncker Plan, is designed to step up our financing of small innovative businesses with strong growth potential. It is also at the heart of the priorities of the French Government's investment plan."
"This EIB loan shows the EU's commitment to supporting industry and innovation in Europe. In return, Amoéba, an example of the industry of the future, will bolster Europe's competitiveness compared with other regions. It would be difficult to nurture new leaders without this crucial phase of investment. On behalf of Amoéba, I wish to thank the EIB for the confidence it has placed in our company at the precommercialisation stage", said Fabrice Plasson, CEO of Amoéba.
The biological biocide developed by Amoéba is a microorganism, a natural predator of pathogenic bacteria and reservoirs such as biofilm in which bacteria protect themselves from chemical biocides. The product has undergone an in-depth validation process and has been tested for a total of more than 10 years at industrial sites under real conditions.
Amoéba plans to invest massively in its production capacity to meet its substantial customer demand and continue to nurture a distribution network that is already well established in Europe and North America. Such growth will undoubtedly have a social impact in terms of job creation.
With innovation as one of its key priorities, the EIB Group provided EUR 13.5bn to innovative projects across Europe in 2016, supporting research programmes from large groups, midcaps and smaller companies. In France in 2016, 38% of the EIB Group's total investment of EUR 9.3bn was devoted to supporting companies, innovation and R&D.
The Juncker Plan is continuing to gather momentum in France, with a running total of 99 operations providing EUR 7.5bn in EIB Group financing set to mobilise EUR 35.4bn in additional investments.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the EU bank, and together with the European Investment Fund (EIF) forms the EIB Group.
Thanks to its reliable expertise and the financial attractiveness of its AAA rating, the EIB Group has doubled the volume of its activities in France since 2012 (reaching EUR 9.3bn in 2016), not only supporting businesses and innovation but also financing investment in strategic sectors such as climate action, energy, healthcare, education for young people and training infrastructure.
The Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called "Juncker Plan", is one of Jean-Claude Juncker's top priorities. It focuses on boosting investments in Europe to create jobs and growth by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment and providing greater visibility and technical assistance to investment projects.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the central pillar of the Juncker Plan. It enables the EIB to invest in more, often riskier, projects with high added value. EFSI is already showing concrete results. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI so far are expected to mobilise more than EUR 225bn in investments and support around 445 000 SMEs across all 28 Member States.
Amoéba aims to become the world leader in treating the bacterial risk present in water and human wounds. Its solutions provide an alternative to the chemical products widely used in the water cooling sector and in wound care. On the global chemical biocides and wound care products markets, estimated respectively at EUR 21bn1 and EUR 15.2bn2 , Amoéba is currently concentrating on the segment of industrial air-cooled towers (ACT) estimated to be worth EUR 1.7bn3 for chemical biocides. The use of Willaertia magna C2c Maky in the field of human health will require the approval of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States. BIOMEBA, Amoéba's biological biocide for water treatment, has not yet received a marketing licence in the US, Europe and Canada. Amoéba has already taken the necessary regulatory steps to obtain marketing licences in these regions to use BIOMEBA in water cooling systems. Based in Chassieu (Lyon, France), Amoéba is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange - Compartment C - and joined the CAC® Small Index on 21 September 2015. For more information, please see www.amoeba-biocide.com.
1 Marketsandmarkets.com, "Wound Care Market by Product, Wound Type, End User - Global Forecast to 2021," 2016.
2 M. Diligence, "Wound Management: An \$18.5 billion+ worldwide market in 2021," MedMarket Diligence, 10 June 2013. [Online]. Available: http://blog.mediligence.com/2013/06/10/wound-management-an-18-5-billion-worldwide-market-in-2021/. [Accessed 14 February 2017].
3 Amoéba data collated from the following sources: DRIRE 2013, Eurostat, ARHIA 2013
Anne-Cécile Auguin, [email protected], tel.: +352 43 79 83330; Mobile: +352 621 36 19 48 Website: www.eib.org/press; Press Office: +352 4379 21000 – [email protected] Follow the EIB on Twitter @eib.
Nathalie Combrousse, [email protected], tel.: +33 (0)4 81 09 18 15
Ghislaine Gasparetto, [email protected], tel.: +33 (0)1 56 88 11 11
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