TAU-CHEM Ltd.
20 YEARS OF
CUSTOM SYNTHESIS &
SPECIALITY CHEMICAL
MANUFACTURE
1994-2014
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• TAU-CHEM Ltd. is one of the Slovak’s leading manufacturers of Fine Chemicals that
find applications in broad spectrum of the market sectors. Currently the company works
on expanding its facilities and launching new streams of business. Therefore it seeks to
raise capital to invest into these opportunities and to replace its short-term financing.
• The company was founded in 1994 by partners with extensive experience in organic
synthesis and technology. With a team of highly skilled organic chemists, including 5
PhDs, Tau-Chem specializes in the heterocyclic chemistry as well as in the more
conventional fields of organic synthesis. Fully equipped quality control laboratories
ensure that the manufacture complies at all stages with the highest quality standards.
Within its existence the company acquired number of business partners as well as a
distinguished position on the market. Database of more than 20 000 compounds with
the complete literature research, the product catalogue containing 400 compounds
accomplished with the technology documentation prove the sound functionality and
abilities of the company .
• In early 2008 the company owners and managers started to pursue a new strategic plan
to expand the reactor capacity, improve the working environment, and to implement
ecologically suitable solutions to the complex waste liquidation; while continually
increasing the quality of services to customers, introducing modern technologies
including continuous flow reactions and chiral synthesis.
FACILITIES
1995 – 2005
• Since 1995, TAU-CHEM has rented premises
within industrial complex of Istrochem, a.s.
•The complex was established at the end of
19th century by Alfred Nobel group, and
Alfred Nobel personally supervised the rise
up. During the 1970s, about 8,000 were
employed within the complex in a large
chemical company.
• 2015
TAU-CHEM assets consist of two main buildings:
Ground
floor
building
(production
and
development building).Three floors Blue building
(research, quality control, administration and
management) and a number of ancillary
premises- stores and garages.
• Currently the complex serves as an industrial
park with a number of small companies
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TAU-CHEM has acquired significant fixed assets equipped with top technology and
thereby significantly contribute to performance improvement.
Dynamit Nobel AG.
Bratislava 1920
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
• 1994
• 1995
• 1998
• 2001
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2011
• 2011
• 2014
• Established by four university schoolfellows: Dr. Marian
Ježek, Dipl. Ing. Juraj Ďuris, Dr. Jan Hrabovsky, and Dr.
Vladimir Žvak
• Start of production in November, 1995
• Acquisition of analytical laboratory GC/MS and HPLC
• Start of a pilot plant
• Revenues over EUR 1 million
• Successful chiral synthesis such as HKR and Sharpless
epoxidation
• New buildings acquired, cooperation with Fytofarm Ltd.
• Close cooperation with company Axxence Aromatic GmbH.
fragrances and the flavors development
• ISO 14001
• Reasearch projects (Slovak Research and Development
Agency
• Dr. Cernak new shareholder (40%), Dr. Zvak (30%), Dr
Hrabovsky(30%)
• ISO 14001, recertification
• ISO 9001, certification
November 1995 start up manufacturing
3 employees, 1 laboratory
• Epoxides
• Furans and
benzofurans
• Imidazoles
• Pyridines
• Thiophenes
• Other heterocycles
• Aromatics
• Various
• Chiral compounds
2015
Development
Development
research and
fine
chemicals
producing
company.
Specializes
in organic
synthesis.
Competency
in process
development
and scale up.
BUSINESS MODEL
Catalogue Firms
• Literature research
• Experiments
• Production
• Building of internal
know-how
Production of fine
chemicals based
on accumulated
know-how
or new research
Examples:
(Intermediaries
reselling chemical
compounds)
• Active pharmaceutical
ingredient for early stage of
drug discovery
• Pheromones
• Food additives
• Nano-particles
• Research chemicals
End-users
• Pharmaceutical
companies
• Food industry
• Producers of
perfumes
• Agricultural
• Crop protection
• University
research centers
• Others
TAU-CHEM´s business model is based on transferring academic scale chemistry (mg) to production
quantities (kg) process optimization and transfer to full production (tones).
8
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
• Large codified know-how readily applicable by a strong team with
combined more than 100 years of experience
• Flexibility and ability to identify profitable products in demand and
to produce wide range of products form few milligrams up to
hundreds of kilograms (products in early phase of their life cycle:
after discovery and description in the literature, however before
mass production)
• Long operational experience resulting in high revenues per person
i.e., ability of PhDs to lead complex synthesis “managing less
experienced” synthetics using codified knowledge (database of
products)
• High quality manufacturing, ISO 9001
• Attractive economics with high gross margins
• Established player on the market with credibility with main global
catalogue firms such as Acros, TCI, Alpha Aesar, Aldrich ,and with
some of the most important end-users such as Novartis, Merck,
Arena Pharmaceutical, etc. Established relationship with agents in
China, Japan, South Korea.
• TAU-CHEM is very
well positioned on an
attractive niche
market of early life
cycle of organic
chemical compounds
(1s mg – 100s kg).
• It can exploit this
position exceptionally
well due to its
accumulated
knowledge and
operational
experience.
Equipment
Production
equipment
Analytical
equipment
• Synthetic laboratory: Various glass reactors with
laboratory equipments for the synthesis up to 1 kg
• Kilo lab: 25 lt up to 100 lt glass reactor, 20 lt
rotovap Heidolph
• Pilot plant: 250 lt inox reactor, 300 l glass lined,
• Distillation unit: 100 lt inox, 100 lt and 50 lt glass
with Sultzer column
• Hydrogenation units: 2 lt Buchi, 100 lt Jahndorf
• GC/MC- Varian 450GC, Varian 225-MS
• HPLC-Varian 9010, Diode array detector, Ultimate
3000 (fy Dionex)
• GC Brucker 450GC,
• Titration unit: Titrino plus (Metrohm)
• M.p.: open air capilary device Stuart SMP 30
• KF: Titrino plus KF (Metrohm)
• Refractory index
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
,
2009-2011
4 projects approved and financed by the Slovak
Grant Agency APVV
Cooperation: 42 companies (CDA )
Slovak Technical University,
Slovak Academy of Science
Axxence Slovakia Ltd.
Saneca, a.s.
2009:
2013:
Certificate for R&D (Ministry of Education SK )
3 projects proposed, 1aprooved (“Chiral
epoxides, simple synthons for enantiopure
molecules“).
2014:
Horizon 2020: member of consortium in 1project
APVV: 2 projects proposed
member of the Cluster „Omic4Health“
2015:
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
TARGET
Horizon 2020
TAU-CHEM offer:
• custom synthesis and contract manufacturing services from
grams to a hundred kilos scale.
TAU-CHEM is looking for:
• partners from research area, developed new ideas, promising
synthetic approaches, new catalytic systems etc.