US renewables company Amyris has signed an agreement with Japan’s Nikkol Group to form a cosmetic ingredients joint venture. Under the terms of the proposal, Nikkol will purchase 50% of Amyris’s Neossance squalane business for up to a total of $20 million. Amyris will receive half of the purchase price upfront and the remaining $10 million is structured as an earn-out over the first three years of the jv’s operation.

“This agreement is another key step among several in our stated plan to build greater value for our business and ensure access to partner-driven growth capital while positioning the company to significantly expand product sales,” said John Melo, president and CEO of Amyris.

The bioscience company expects sales of squalane – a high-performance emollient used in a variety of cosmetics and skincare products – to continue growing at above 50% annually, while the jv will cut its expenses by more than $1.5 million per year.

The prospective partners are already known to each other, as Nikkol has been distributing Amyris’ cosmetics ingredients in the Japanese market for several years. “By working together, we believe the additional financial, marketing, innovation and business development synergies will lead to a significant expansion in market applications,” commented Shizuo Ukaji, president and CEO of Nikko Chemicals, a Nikkol subisidary.

In separate news, Amyris is collaborating with the government of Queensland, Australia, to create a biotechnology hub that will serve the rapidly growing personal care sector in southeast Asia. The partners intend to develop a new manufacturing plant for Amyris’s personal care and nutraceutical actives as well as farnesene-based products.

The first industrial production at the Queensland plant is expected to start up in 2020. If this timing is achieved, the facility would generate annual revenue of $60-80 million, potentially paying back investors in two to three years.

In June, Amyris and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support the development of a Queensland-based biotechnology industry using feedstock from local sugarcane.