Biodiesel Company for Namibia

The new company will be headquartered in Namibia, with operations in Namibia and possibly other locations in Africa.

According to the terms of the agreement, the new company will examine various castor varieties in field tests in Namibia, and following the selection of best performing varieties, the new company will work to commercialize and grow the selected varieties on a commercial scale in Namibia, and possibly in other locations in Africa.

Evogene will provide the new company with the castor varieties for evaluation, and will utilize its knowledge and capabilities in plant growth. The Leviev Group will provide access to lands for crop growth in Namibia and logistical infrastructure for the project. In addition, the Leviev Group will contribute its experience and knowledge in establishing projects in Namibia and in other southern African countries.

The castor varieties to be supplied by Evogene will be selected from varieties being developed in a previously announced collaboration between Evogene and Orfuel, initiated in September 2007.

Under this collaboration, which has received a grant from the BIRD Foundation (Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation), Evogene and Orfuel are jointly developing non edible plants, such as castor, for biodiesel commercial production.

A special focus of this collaboration is that these plants can be grown commercially in non arable areas.

Castor is a high oil yielding crop and there are vast non arable lands available in Namibia that potentially could be used for this purpose and it is anticipated that the cost of biodiesel feedstock produced using specialized castor crops grown in Namibia is expected to be significantly lower than cost of biodiesel produced from crops currently used for this purpose, such as soybean and canola.

Eli Nefussy, CEO of the Leviev Group in Namibia, said: "Innovation is one of the key elements guiding the business strategy of the Leviev Group. Renewable energy and alternative fuels are fields of high importance to the Leviev Group.

"I am confident that the experience of the Leviev Group in Africa together with the technology and knowledge of Evogene and Orfuel through the utilization of arable lands will result in breakthroughs in these fields. We are pleased to be partners in such an innovative project, and hope that this collaboration will be a significant layer in creating renewable resources."

"This collaboration fits well into Evogene's business model in the field of biodiesel, and constitutes an additional stage towards commercialization of the plants developed through the joint project with Orfuel in one of the potential target locations," said Ofer Haviv, Evogene's president and CEO.

"We are convinced that with our extensive capabilities in plants together with the vast experience of the Leviev Group in Africa, we will be able to develop improved feedstock addressing the needs of the alternative fuel industry."

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