Beijing, China – Novo Holdings, a leading global life science investor, and KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the signing of definitive agreements under which Novo Holdings will make a direct investment in Sylvan, world’s leading manufacturer of fungal biotechnology solutions (or the “Company”) while KKR remains the Company’s majority shareholder.
Novo Holdings’ investment in Sylvan marks its largest planetary health investment in Asia and the first in fungal biotechnology sector, both of which are strategic priorities due to growth prospects and potential for impact on planetary health. Founded in 1932, Sylvan is world’s leading fungal biotechnology company, headquartered in China. The company seeks to harness the potential of fungal systems to create sustainable solutions to address global challenges in food, health, agriculture, and materials. Today, the Company operates multiple production facilities around the world and serves customers across 65 countries.
The new capital will support Sylvan’s expansion by enabling increased production capacity, upgraded R&D infrastructure, and deeper penetration into high-growth markets, particularly in Asia. Sylvan will also benefit from Novo Holdings’ extensive network and sector expertise to further strengthen its position in the global mushroom spawn market and develop new high-impact bio-products, such as fungi-based materials, biopesticides, and nutritional supplements.
From spawning to cultivation, the modern mushroom sector offers significant sustainability benefits and circular economy value to planetary health. It requires minimal land and water compared to traditional agriculture, utilizes agricultural waste as raw materials, and produces high-quality proteins that meet human health needs. Sylvan views China as an important market for growth, where downstream mushroom cultivation sector has experienced strong industrialization transition tailwinds, which drives not only the fast-growing demand for spawn but also agricultural modernization and rural economic growth nationwide.
Jackie Qi, CEO of Sylvan, said, “Sylvan is delighted to welcome Novo Holdings as our latest investor and to have the continued support of KKR, who have been a terrific strategic partner in our value creation journey. With this latest milestone, we are in an excellent position to pursue our ambition to become a global leader in fungal biotechnology solutions across four unique markets: Food, Health, Agriculture, and Materials, and will look to leverage their global networks and expertise to take Sylvan to the next level of transformation.”
Amit Kakar, Managing Partner and Head of Asia, and Deepa Hingorani, Partner, Planetary Health Investments, Novo Holdings Asia, jointly added, “Sylvan represents a significant milestone for our global Planetary Health strategy and underscores our growing presence in Asia. As a leader in fungal biotechnology, Sylvan is well-positioned to deliver sustainable innovations that support food security, reduce chemical use, and build a circular bioeconomy. We look forward to partnering with KKR to help Sylvan scale its impact, particularly across dynamic markets in Asia, and advance our shared vision for a healthier and more sustainable planet.”
Chris Sun, Partner and Head of China Private Equity, KKR, said, “We are pleased to welcome Novo Holdings given their significant expertise in life sciences and planetary health. KKR is aligned with Novo Holdings in our commitment to drive the creation of sustainable global solutions. We are proud of the tremendous progress Sylvan has achieved and believe this new strategic partnership will enable it to unlock even greater growth.”
Novo Holdings’ Planetary Health Investments team spans three continents (Europe, North America and Asia), and invests in areas where science and technology can deliver returns while tackling global challenges, including feeding a growing world population, fighting climate change and drought, or creating sustainable cities.
About Sylvan
Sylvan is a fungal biotechnology company, unlocking the incredible potential of the Earth’s ancient fungi. We believe these resilient fungi, having evolved over millions of years, hold the key to overcoming many of the problems our planet faces today and into the future. Our goal is simple: harness the power of fungi and create sustainable solutions to address global challenges in food, health, agriculture, and materials.
About Novo Holdings
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets and the wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S (Novozymes A/S) and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. In addition to managing a broad portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity assets, Novo Holdings is a world-leading life sciences investor. Through its Seed, Venture, Growth, Asia, Planetary Health and Principal Investments teams, Novo Holdings invests in life science companies at all stages of development. As of year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had total assets of EUR 149 billion. www.novoholdings.dk
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com. For additional information about Global Atlantic Financial Group, please visit Global Atlantic Financial Group’s website at www.globalatlantic.com.
For more info about this press release, please contact Melinda Kong at melinda.kong@sylvaninc.com