Created at U of S | ‘The time is right to pass it on to a major processor’, says MCN president
MCN BioProducts Inc., a Saskatoon-based company focused on canola protein, has sold most of its technology assets to Bunge Limited.
A price was not disclosed.
University of Saskatchewan re-searchers David Maenz, Henry Classen and Rex Newkirk formed MCN.
It developed a patented process to manufacture canola-based ingredients for the aquaculture and animal feed market.
“We have taken this technology from the lab bench to the processing floor and proven the commercial value of our new canola-based products,” Todd Lahti, president and chief executive of MCN, said in a news release.
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“The time is right to pass it on to a major processor with worldwide operations.”
Miguel Oliveira, executive director of Bunge Global Innovation, said Bunge has the expertise and network of plants to commercialize the process.
“Importantly, the new concentrates are produced via a patented enzymatic water-based process that can be added to an existing canola and rapeseed crushing plant without affecting oil quality or yield,” he said in a news release.
After spinning out from the university, MCN received seed capital from Foragen Technologies, an agricultural technology venture capital firm.
Investments followed from Saskatchewan’s CIC Investment Management, GrowthWorks and FCC Ventures.
Can Pro Ingredients, an alfalfa and canola processing plant at Arborfield, Sask., was the only company licensed to use MCN’s process and MCN had shares in Can Pro.
Francis Rodier, chief executive of Can Pro, said in an interview he hasn’t talked with Bunge about the future.
“I think it will be a good thing for Can Pro. It will give some clarity and we can move forward with our plans.”
“We are basically a pilot plant, really. We are the first ones in the world doing this, the first ones to use the licensed technology of MCN, so have been breaking ground a lot.”
It’s canola operation worked for about a year, cold pressing seed and processing the meal. There was good demand for the protein product, he said.
The plant hasn’t handled canola for about a year because of the high cost of seed, but Rodier said the company is looking at resuming operations this fall.
With machinery upgrades, it should be able to function at 100 percent.
He said he is excited about potential new high value uses of the canola protein, such as being a component in environmentally friendly glue.
