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TyraTech signs global licensing agreement with Arysta LifeScience
12 June 2006

XL TechGroup (AIM: XLT), the systematic architect and builder of an ongoing stream of high value new companies, announces that its portfolio company, Tyratech LLC (“TyraTech”), has signed a global licensing and co-development agreement with the North American subsidiary of Japan based Arysta LifeScience Corporation.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Arysta LifeScience Corporation is the world’s largest privately held crop protection and life science company with 2005 revenues of ¥115.7 billion (US$1 billion). Arysta LifeScience Corporation specialises in the marketing and distribution of respected crop protection brands and life science products in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Under this agreement, Arysta LifeScience has an exclusive license to manufacture and market a number of specific horticultural insecticide products. TyraTech will receive payments from Arysta LifeScience covering development milestones, followed by a revenue based royalty structure following product launch. This new relationship between Arysta LifeScience and TyraTech will capitalise on the significant global opportunity for horticulture products based on highly effective, natural active ingredients. The horticultural insecticide market is estimated to be US$3.7 billion worldwide.

TyraTech has a unique biotechnology platform that has been applied to the creation of an entirely new class of natural insecticides that are highly effective, as demonstrated by independent trials, and are designed to retard insect resistance. The core technology, which uses the successful reproduction of chemo receptors in a stable cell line to identify highly effective essential oil compounds, has a wide variety of applications. The ingredients are based on natural plant oils, which are environmentally-friendly and designed to be harmless for both humans and animals.

“The natural and highly effective active ingredient solutions provided by TyraTech will allow us to further meet our customers’ needs,” said Bill Lewis, president and CEO of Arysta LifeScience North America Corporation. “Customers want new active ingredient compounds that are less likely to develop insect resistance, to improve the efficacy and environmental profile of their integrated pest management efforts. We are enthusiastic about the potential of TyraTech’s platform technology to allow us to meet the substantial and growing market need for natural, highly effective active ingredients across a broad range of horticultural applications. Together, we will become leaders in horticultural natural insecticides.”

John Scott, CEO of XL TechGroup, said: “This agreement with a global leader like Arysta LifeScience represents a further significant endorsement for TyraTech and its market-changing, disruptive technologies. In the world of horticulture, many pests have developed resistance to classic insecticides. As a result, the growing worldwide horticulture insecticide market is looking for safe, natural solutions that work, and TyraTech is perfectly positioned to bring its unique technology and experience to bear.”

“TyraTech’s technology is specifically designed to retard the development of resistance in insects through a simultaneous focus on a combination of chemo-receptors, which not only dramatically reduces the potential for resistance but also enables the rapid development of new highly focused insecticides when needed. This agreement represents another step in expanding the range of potential applications for TyraTech’s technologies, and we look forward to making further announcements over the coming months.”

 

If you would like further information, please contact:

TyraTech Inc. Alan Reade, Executive Chairman www.tyratech.com	1 (321) 409 - 7720
Arysta LifeScience
Donna Uchida	Tel: +1 415 309 9636
donna.uchida@arystalifescience.com	www.arystalifescience.com

XL TechGroup & TyraTech media inquiries:

Abchurch Communications
Heather Salmond / Chris Munden	Tel:+44 (0) 20 7398 7700
heather.salmond@abchurch-group.com	www.abchurch-group.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

About XL TechGroup

XL TechGroup identifies unmet market needs in the Biotech, Ecotech and Medtech sectors and then systematically creates and develops successful disruptive technology businesses to exploit these needs. The Company has developed a unique proven method to rapidly bring companies from inception to liquidity, matching unexploited IP from a group of corporate and technology partners to the identified unmet market need. XL TechGroup employs its own predictive algorithm to ensure the market will rapidly adopt the identified solution and then moves to scale the company specifically created to exploit the opportunity.

Before forming XL TechGroup, the management team created substantial value for shareholders over a twelve year period, successfully exiting six technology businesses at an average market valuation of approximately US$500 million.

The listing of the first company created under the XL TechGroup banner, AgCert International, continues to validate the systematic approach to value creation.

• AgCert International was created by XL TechGroup in May 2002 and is a global leader in the production and sale of agriculturally derived greenhouse gas emission reductions, with business in Europe, Asia, North America and South America. AgCert was listed on the London Stock Exchange in June 2005 and XL TechGroup maintains a 24.7% interest in AgCert. www.agcert.com

The second and third companies in the new generation of XL TechGroup businesses are:

• Tyratech LLC, which was created by XL TechGroup in July 2004, is developing a new class of insecticides utilizing all natural active ingredients. TyraTech is able to quickly evaluate natural ingredient combinations by utilizing a patent-pending high throughput chemoreceptor screening process that accurately predicts effectiveness levels. TyraTech’s development is progressing rapidly in both insecticidal and related human healthcare applications. TyraTech, which is 66.7% owned by XL TechGroup, is continuing discussions with companies in North America, Asia and Europe as well as numerous national public health programs about the licensing and distribution rights for its patent-pending formulations in relation to natural insecticide and personal care products. www.tyratech.com
• DxTech LLCwas created by XL TechGroup in July 2005, and is developing a unique micro-fluidic platform that replaces essentially all biological tests currently performed at reference laboratories with a fully-automated, point-of-care device. This technology has applications in significantly lowering costs and increasing efficiency for major pharmaceutical companies in their clinical trials, the provision of diagnostics in developing countries and delivering a new revenue stream for doctors in the USA . DxTech is currently 100% owned by XL TechGroup.

XL TechGroup has a number of other opportunities already at an advanced stage in its business creation pipeline, and expects to create one-to-two new companies annually that can each achieve a liquidity event worth at least US$400 million within four years from inception.

For further information, see www.xltechgroup.com

About Arysta

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Arysta LifeScience is the world’s largest privately held crop protection and life science company with 2005 revenues of ¥115.7 billion (US$1 billion). An entrepreneurial provider of crop protection and life science products in more than 125 countries worldwide, Arysta LifeScience specializes in the marketing and distribution of respected crop protection brands and life science products in harmony with the needs of global producers.

For additional information, visit www.arystalifescience.com

 

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