Paul Pereira Merger Update and Next Steps Meredian Real Estate Holdings In February 2014 Meredian BioPlastics and Danimer Scientific merged to form one of the largest reactive extrusion and biopolymer facilities in the world. This entity is the largest manufacturer of PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) and boasts some of the most sophisticated and advanced biopolymer research laboratories in the world. A plethora of Fortune 100 companies are currently doing research and development with Meredian Inc. at different stages of market launch. These include companies such as BASF, Henkel, Proctor and Gamble, DART, SC Johnson, Graphics Packaging, and PepsiCo just to name a few. innovations captured through our patents. We continue to make significant strides both in the lab, our facility and in the market place as we focus on commercialization.” - Paul Pereira, Executive Chairman Meredian Inc. “Innovations lie at the nexus of our competitive advantage, and we have a plethora of With the process of the merger almost behind us, having the most significant part of it successfully accomplished, and with the unanimous vote of The past 6 months have been tough and demanding as we formulated new strategy and direction for both Danimer and Meredian, injected fiscal control and held steadfast to a runway and budget with precision of project execution. The Meredian and Danimer team have all worked very hard to this common goal. 1 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 confidence from the shareholders of both Danimer and Meredian, we are almost on a steady path to sustainable growth. The last stage of the merger completion is the final nod of approval from the USDA, having met with them at Fort Valley and hearing their initial thoughts, the USDA believes the merger to be a good thing and we feel confident that it would be a matter of awaiting confirmation over the next few weeks. Meanwhile the road to ramp up continues as we enter the commercialization stage and we are working diligently towards a Henkel commercial contract with Danimer and a Dart commercial contract with Meredian. In pursuit of this the Danimer labs are working feverishly to conclude the final round of testing of the hot melt adhesive with Henkel, hoping that this final round meets or surpasses their product requirements. The Meredian pilot plant ramps up and works through growing pains to produce the PHA of a consistent and high quality. With the diligence and the determination of the team, many obstacles and challenges have been overcome in the pilot plant and confidence is very high that our PHA product is of world-class quality. Obviously we would have to hit certain key milestones and the market conditions would have to be correct for us to engage at the gate of a public offering. Having said that, we have been courted by a couple of these firms, as they are confident that Meredian Holdings Group can successfully come to the IPO platform. We will be reviewing engagement proposals over the next couple weeks. Over the past weeks we have been in discussions at various levels with the likes of Piper Jaffray, Stephens Capital, Morgan Stanley, Lindsey Goldberg and Jefferies as we entertain the possibility of an IPO. Our new model of building a customer driven plant and generating R&D revenues from our Client Incubation Model has won great praise from these investment bankers as we continue to mitigate risk. 2 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 We have set targets and milestones for fiscal 2014 and are confident that we will achieve them. The main facility has been blue printed and we have exact cost of build out with performance bonds waiting to go in place guaranteeing time and cost. Interestingly the same engineering consortium that blueprinted our main plant came back with a commitment for $1.5 million dollars of their money in common stock in Meredian as a show of confidence and support in this project. There is an opportunity to be a part of a globally “disruptive innovation”. This enablement is providing the basis of a material technology that is second to none and can parallel the market performances of some great predecessor public offerings. Update On Installation of The New Pilot Plant Equipment – 20,000 Liter Fermentation Vessel Don Paul / Michael Smith 3 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM purification system and clean steam system are complete. The steam lines, water lines, boiler and chilled water lines are 90% complete while the air spargers and heat exchangers are 50% complete. The electrical began this past week and will be complete in 30 days while the automation programming is in process. The included picture was taken from the canola field at Meredian. These yellow blooms will soon yield the seed, and eventually the oil that will be used in the new fermenter are shown in the center of the picture near the building. . During the canola growing season the teammates at Meredian have gathered leaves each day for making salads for working lunches and even dinner on late nights. Greg Calhoun, the farmer who planted this 1/2 acre plot, mentioned to us that the canola leaves were very tasty and nutritious as well. After a few bites we all agree and now partake weekly. This healthy meal also supports our company's efforts to lose weight as part of the annual weight loss competition. We are almost at the end and Michael Smith and Dave Mazzei are in the lead. 4 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 Meredian is midway through installation of the 20,000 liter reactor that is located in the pilot plant. This unit will be the largest fermenter in the world making PHA, and is six times larger than the one Meredian is currently operating. This fermenter will produce the larger samples that are now being asked for by our customers as we move them through the client incubation cycle to commercialization. The unit was set in place with cranes last week with the support structure. We expect installation to be complete within the next 60 days. Of the different systems needed to operate the new reactor, the reverse osmosis water MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 Henkel and Other Key Customer Next Steps Blake Lindsey During the last few weeks we have continued our pace and focus on sales, new business development, conversation & contact with customers, R&D initiatives and review of how best to make 2014 a record year! At DaniMer we have successfully demonstrated through multiple trials a new film grade with our friends at PepsiCo who are moving now to full truckload orders, prior to commercialization. These are exciting developments and confirmation of our R&D success to enable a customer to advance to scale up trials. Continued trials are being supported successfully in our Energy Stimulation polymers field with Halliburton for screen coatings and with our partners EnerPol for squeeze frac well trials. We have just shipped multiple samples to Henkel of the RHMA materials which we believe will allow the two companies to finalize our readiness plans by March 15 for Q2 trials with multiple larger brand owners who seek to use our renewable hot melt adhesives. Our aqueous coating trials have also gone well and we are finalizing work to confirm the food contact OK status of this very exciting technology. We expect to report a commercial launch for this product in our next newsletter. The coffee ring application we are supporting in an injection molding application are taking off and our customers are reporting exciting growth. Finally, we understand the pet treat partner is seeing a nice increase in order volume and we should be positioned well as we enter the summer months for increased demand. 5 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM Our team participated in the ITR or Innovation Take Root conference in Orlando in February. Dr. Isao Noda was a key note speaker for the audience of over 300 leaders in the global bioplastics market. We will be speaking this week in Las Vegas at the Innoplast Bioplastics conference and are participating in a round table presentation on biopolymer innovation in Philadelphia in early May. The Fortune article and these speaking engagements have allowed the global brand owner and general consumer a greater awareness of the capabilities of our companies and continues to bring new opportunities forward for our consideration. The market is "buzzing "about our companies and we thank you for your support. Canola – The Farmer’s Perspective Greg Calhoun The oil crushing plant is beyond the planning stage. We are waiting on UGA to finish the feasibility study. I believe the final test will be when we get the yield from the canola we are growing for seed, which will be harvested at the end of April. The canola is about 20% flowering now and looks very good. Daniel Caraway says we need below 90 degree temperatures during flowering stage. The extended forecast looks favorable. As an investor and board member I can say today, “I am proud to be invested in Meredian.” “I am proud to be invested in Meredian.” - Greg Calhoun 6 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 At Meredian, we are actively supporting our strategy toward vertical integration in the supply chain with our efforts to take advantage of our canola seed and canola oil capabilities. This is being enthusiastically supported by our strategic customer partners as they agree that this is a unique and valuable supply chain option that does not exist elsewhere in the world. We have met recently with Kimberly Clark, GenPak, Clopay and Clariant in Bainbridge each with very different needs for PHA. We have a number of targeted applications that require film grade PHA and those customers are working with our pilot plant teams to schedule future trials. R&D activities are in final stages of discussion with several brand owners and more information to follow as we deliver initial samples from our Meredian PHA pilot plant. MEREDIAN, INC. NEWSLETTER MARCH 2014 Dr. Noda and Nodax Isao Noda Meredian, Inc. is very pleased to announce that Dr. Isao Noda has joined Meredian as Director of Innovative Solutions. Dr. Noda joins Meredian after a distinguished career extending over three decades at Procter & Gamble. Following his retirement from P&G, Dr. Noda accepted a position as an Adjunct Professor at The University of Delaware which he will maintain. Dr. Noda is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of polymer science including the field of biopolymers known as polyhydroxyalkanoates. Dr. Noda pioneered development of a specific type of PHAs known as medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHA) and called NODAX. Meredian recently announced ramp-up of the world’s largest production facility for mcl-PHAs with its plant located in the southeastern United States near Bainbridge, GA. Dr. Noda was born in Tokyo, Japan. He came to the United States in 1969 and was graduated from Columbia University in the City of New York in 1974 with B.S. degree in chemical engineering. He also received his M.S. in bioengineering (1976), as well as M.Phil. (1978) and Ph.D. (1979) in chemical engineering from Columbia. In 1997 he received D.Sc. degree in chemistry from the University of Tokyo. Dr. Noda has been repeatedly recognized for his contributions and currently holds ninety (90) patents granted in the US and the EU, published over three hundred (300) articles, co-authored three (3) books and received a number of industry wide awards and recognition for his contributions to these fields of interest. Dr. Isao Noda, Director of Innovative Solutions Meredian, Inc. Our April Issue: The Road to The Main Facility – Commercial Volume Production by Paul Pereira My Life Journey In The Commercialization – Of A Bioplastic – What It Means To Me by Daniel Carraway EXPLORE THE SOLUTIONS Scan to learn more about Meredian Explore our website at www.meredianinc.com filled with insightful reources 7 140 INDUSTRIAL BOULEVARD BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA 39817 WWW.MEREDIANINC.COM
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