Teijin To Buy Half of Cargill's NatureWorks

Minneapolis, MN, and Tokyo, Japan, October 2, 2007--Cargill and Teijin Limited of Japan have formed a joint venture in NatureWorks LLC, maker of NatureWorks biopolymer, derived from 100% renewable resources.

On Oct. 1, the two companies entered into an agreement in which Teijin will acquire 50% ownership of NatureWorks, effective upon regulatory approvals.

The move comes as NatureWorks expands to the capacity of its U.S. polylactic acid (PLA) plant – the world’s first and largest commercial scale biopolymer manufacturing facility. Cargill and Teijin will accelerate NatureWorks’ global sales growth and facilitate product expansion in the broad plastics and fibers markets served by NatureWorks.

“Teijin's downstream application knowledge in fibers, films and plastic compounds will be of immeasurable value as we grow production at our Blair, Nebraska facility and consider additional expansion in the fast-growing global marketplace,” said Cargill Vice Chairman Guillaume Bastiaens.

“NatureWorks will greatly benefit from Teijin’s expertise in technology and end-use application development. Teaming up with Teijin will allow more brand owners, retailers and converters to address their global interest in sustainable solutions using NatureWorks biopolymer.”

Teijin said it intends to leverage its expertise in applications for fibers, films and plastic compounds to play a key role in the development of new markets for NatureWorks biopolymer.

“We are very impressed with Cargill’s long-term commitment to NatureWorks PLA polymers and other biobased products,” said Toru Nagashima, president and CEO of Teijin. “NatureWorks LLC is a perfect fit with our strategy of pursuing strategic investments to take our environmental management technologies global. We look forward to growing our global PLA polymer business through this partnership.”

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