Kordsa Invests in BPREG

Kordsa invests in BPREG, a company developing industrial biocomposites using organic fibres. With this investment, a sign of Kordsa's sustainability approach, the company will offer environmentally friendly alternatives to its customers while aiming to bring its leadership in advanced materials to the biocomposite market. Kordsa, a Sabancı Holding affiliate, has made a significant investment to advance its expertise in composite technologies. Kordsa has invested in BPREG, a sustainable advanced materials company founded in Turkey in 2017 that develops industrial biocomposites reinforced with natural fibres, offering environmentally friendly alternatives to synthetic composites. Through this investment, Kordsa will become a partner in the company's growth story and will open its domestic and international knowledge and technology accumulation to BPREG. Kordsa's production facilities will be able to host BPREG's serial production processes, while BPREG's product portfolio will be made available to Kordsa's customers across different geographies worldwide. BPREG's biocomposite solutions will reduce the carbon footprint of product and component manufacturing across different sectors such as automotive, mobility, aviation, sporting goods and consumer products, while delivering high performance and lightweight benefits; thus accelerating the transition to sustainable materials. Biocomposite materials produced through the BPREG & Kordsa partnership will also offer promise in exterior surface aesthetic applications with their natural appearance. BPREG combines products derived from organic fibres with different polymers through patented manufacturing techniques, achieving high-performance, sustainable and industrially applicable composite materials. BPREG's biocomposite materials are used across a wide range of applications including automotive, mobility vehicles, yachts and other marine vessels, sporting goods, aviation and consumer products. By enabling sustainable product and component manufacturing without compromising high-performance and lightweight requirements in these application areas, BPREG remains aligned with industry price expectations.

Low Carbon Emissions

Organic fibres are highly suitable crops for biocomposites and robust products. Organic fibres that absorb carbon from the air and convert it to oxygen are also highly suitable plants for rain-fed agriculture. Industrial biocomposites derived from organic fibres used for non-food consumption exhibit similar performance to synthetic composites in terms of lightness and mechanical properties, while having significantly lower carbon emissions compared to these products. Biocomposite technologies, which have recently attracted interest from world-renowned companies across many sectors, particularly automotive, are expected to be among the fast-growing and successful sectors in the coming periods.

Kordsa CEO İbrahim Özgür Yıldırım, noting that the BPREG investment will add another competency to their expertise in composite technologies, continued as follows:

"As Kordsa, at every step of our journey that began in 1973, we have made it a principle to contribute to the world. For 50 years, while creating value for our customers, we have also pioneered sustainable and benefit-focused development of the ecosystem. In the collaborations we undertake within this ecosystem, by including entrepreneurs, we both contribute to the country's economy and pave the way for new ideas. Today, our mission, which we define as 'Strengthening Life,' is not limited to providing our customers with the most durable products. At the same time, through the material revolution we lead, we develop sustainable technologies for our customers while prioritizing the green transformation of our business processes in collaboration with global platforms such as CDP and SBTi. In other words, we take responsibility for the future of our world and humanity. BPREG, which aims to be part of the green transformation of major manufacturing industries with natural fibre-reinforced advanced composites, is an initiative that fully aligns with Kordsa's approach. As Kordsa, we are delighted to be a partner in BPREG's global growth story." Expressing that this investment will also be an important supporter of the Sabancı Community Pledge, defined as "For a sustainable life, with pioneering initiatives, we bring Turkey and the world together," Yıldırım continued: "Through our investment in BPREG, while becoming a supporter of sustainable living, we will contribute to opening a technology from Turkey to global markets. In the near future, by sourcing from local producers in Turkey, products derived from organic fibres can be made available to the world's largest companies in our customer portfolio through the BPREG and Kordsa synergy. Thus, we will have opened a new page in our mission of serving as a bridge between Turkey and the world." BPREG, which participated in the 'Sabancı ARF Almost Ready to Fly' programme launched by Sabancı Holding in 2022 and which graduated its first cohort of participants in recent months, was among the 8 ventures that qualified for investment in the programme.