Burcon Updates on Development Activities

July 08, 2019 8:15 AM EDT | Source: Burcon NutraScience Corporation

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 8, 2019) - Burcon NutraScience Corporation (TSX: BU) (OTC PINK: BUROF), a global leader in developing functionally and nutritionally valuable plant-proteins, is pleased to provide an update of its recent development activities.

Burcon has now funded its share of the initial capital contribution to Merit Functional Foods Corporation ("Merit Foods" or "Merit") by using a portion of the net proceeds from the over-subscribed rights offering, which closed on June 25th. As previously announced on May 23, 2019, Burcon and its joint venture partners had agreed that on or before July 2, 2019, they would make initial capital contributions to Merit Foods in the aggregate amount of $10,000,000, with Burcon's 40% share being $4,000,000. The full $10,000,000 of initial capital contributions have now been completed by the joint venture partners.

With Merit Foods now funded, the management team at Merit Foods has already taken important steps to expedite Merit's development and buildout of the previously announced C$65 million pea-protein and canola-protein commercial production facility ("the Flex Production Plant"). The Flex Production Plant is planned to initially process approximately 20,000 tonnes of yellow field peas per year beginning in mid-2020 and will produce Burcon's Peazazz® and Peazac™ pea proteins, as well as Burcon's Supertein®, Puratein® and Nutratein® canola proteins.

The development steps already taken by Merit Foods' management team include:

1) entered into a purchase agreement for the land, which will be the site of the Flex Production Plant;

2) executed a services agreement with Excel Engineering of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, to provide full process design and coordination services to support Merit in the buildout and commissioning of the Flex Production Plant;

3) placed purchase orders for the long-lead-time processing equipment that will be incorporated into the Flex Production Plant;

4) initiated collaboration discussions with several strategic food and beverage companies to utilize Burcon's Peazazz® and Nutratein® blends; and

5) engaged Bird Construction to prepare engineering plans and drawings, to begin construction this fall, of the building that will house the Flex Production Plant.

"Since closing the rights offering on June 25th, Burcon and Merit have hit the ground running," said Johann F. Tergesen, Burcon's president and chief executive officer. He added: "Our respective management teams will maintain a laser beam-like focus on completing the commercial buildout of Merit's commercial production facility with the goal of bringing Burcon's unique plant proteins to market by mid-2020."

As planned, Burcon has also fully repaid its previously outstanding indebtedness to Large Scale Investments Limited, the $1,500,000 loan and the $2,000,000 convertible note and the accrued interest thereon, from the net proceeds of the rights offering.

Burcon will further support Merit Food's commercialization efforts by producing samples of Peazazz® pea protein and Puratein®, Supertein® and Nutratein® canola proteins for Merit's customers and potential customers, and will also continue to conduct research on other plant-based protein opportunities, and undertake patenting activities.

About Burcon NutraScience Corporation

Burcon is a leader in developing functionally and nutritionally valuable plant proteins. The company has developed an extensive portfolio of composition, application, and process patents originating from a core protein extraction and purification technology. Burcon's family of plant proteins includes Peazazz®, a uniquely soluble and clean-tasting pea protein, Puratein®, Supertein® and Nutratein® canola proteins with exceptional functionality and valuable nutritional profiles, and Nutratein-PS and Nutratein-TZ, Burcon's new pea and canola protein blends that have exceptional functional characteristics, low allergenicity, and a nutritional value exceeding those of standard pea proteins in the market today. Burcon's CLARISOY® soy protein - under license to the Archer Daniels Midland Company - offers clarity and high-quality protein nutrition for low-pH beverage systems, and excellent solubility and exceptionally clean flavour at any pH. For more information about the company, visit www.burcon.ca.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of the content of the information contained herein. This press release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements or forward-looking information involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performances, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward- looking statements or forward-looking information can be identified by words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "project," "estimate," "expect," "believe", "future," "likely," "may," "should," "could", "will" and similar references to future periods. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Burcon's plans and expectations include the actual results of business negotiations, marketing activities, adverse general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes and other risks and factors detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Burcon with securities regulators and stock exchanges, including in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Burcon's annual information form dated June 28, 2019 filed with the Canadian securities administrators on www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement or information only speaks as of the date on which it was made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Burcon disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Burcon believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and accordingly, investors should not rely on such statements.

CLARISOY is a trademark of Archer Daniels Midland Company.

Investor Contact:
Paul Lam
Manager, Business Development
Burcon NutraScience Corporation
Tel (604) 733-0896, Toll-free (888) 408-7960
plam@burcon.ca www.burcon.ca

Media Contact:
Steve Campbell, APR
President
Campbell & Company Public Relations
Tel (604) 888-5267
TECH@CCOM-PR.COM

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/46119

info