Evolva completes Abunda acquisition

Evolva Holding SA (SIX: EVE), which is developing novel medicines and nutritional ingredients through synthetic biology, announced that it will complete the acquisition of Abunda Nutrition, Inc. (“Abunda”) today, after which it will be a wholly­ owned subsidiary of Evolva.

Evolva’s shareholders approved the capital increase required for the acquisition in the Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) of Evolva on 18 May 2011. As announced on 5 April 2011, the acquisition of Abunda requires an upfront investment of 25 million newly issued Evolva shares. This equals close to 18% of Evolva’s currently outstanding capital. SIX Swiss Exchange has cleared the Listing Prospectus related to the issue of the new Evolva shares so that the transaction could be executed.

The selling Abunda shareholders have agreed to submit the Evolva shares they will receive, to the Lock­up and Coordinated Sale mechanism. This structure was set up by Evolva’s core investors in December 2010 in order to facilitate the gradual release of Evolva’s lock­up and increase the stock’s free­float.

Evolva’s shareholders elected two new members for the Board of Directors in the AGM of 18 May 2011: Ganesh Kishore and Stuart Strathdee. The election was conditional upon the closing of the Abunda acquisition. Upon closing, the election of the two Board members will be confirmed. In addition, the CEO of Abunda, Simon Waddington, will join Evolva’s Group Management Team.