Comstock announced that one of its strategic investees, Bioleum Corporation (“Bioleum”), acquired substantially all of the patents and other intellectual property assets of RenFuel K2B AB (“RenFuel”) through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bioleum, including RenFuel’s patented catalytic esterification process to refine Bioleum’s proprietary biointermediates.
The purchase price includes an $18.1 million closing payment comprised of $12.5 million paid with 520,833 shares of Bioleum common stock, $2.5 million paid in the form of warrants to purchase an additional 104,167 shares of Bioleum common stock at an exercise price of $24 per share, $2.6 million in debt forgiveness, and cash of $500,000. The purchase price further includes a contingent earn-out payment equal to 3% of the aggregate revenues generated from sales of lignin ester produced using the technologies acquired from RenFuel up to a cap of $11.9 million.
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“Bioleum has assembled a world class team with a singular focus of converting woody biomass into a renewable alternative to petroleum with universal application potential in existing liquid fuels and other supply chains,” said Kevin Kreisler, Bioleum’s chief executive officer. “RenFuel’s patented catalytic esterification process and related intellectual properties were developed over many years with a similar objective, with compelling synergies when combined with our intellectual properties. We are thankful for RenFuel’s ingenuity and years of hard work, and we are excited to bring our combined technologies to market.”
“RenFuel’s intellectual properties have more potential in Bioleum’s hands when combined with Bioleum’s technology stack,” stated Johan Löchen, RenFuel’s chief executive officer. “We believe that this transaction will maximize and accelerate the commercialization of our technologies globally and we are looking forward to Bioleum’s future success.”
Bioleum additionally granted RenFuel an exclusive license to use the acquired technologies in biomaterials applications, subject to a 3% royalty, and entered into a development services agreement with RenFuel for ongoing technology development work involving the RenFuel laboratory and pilot systems in Upsala, Sweden and key fuels-related technology employees. Bioleum retained the right, via a reciprocal non-exclusive license, to use the acquired technologies in biomaterials applications in North America, South America and Central America.
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