Good morning, everyone, thank you for joining us on this very exciting day for both Novozymes and Chr. Hansen. My name is Tobias Björklund, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations here at Novozymes, as mentioned. Please turn to slide number 2. Highlighting the disclaimer for this presentation, we move to slide number 3. Joining us at today's call are Ester Baiget, President and CEO of Novozymes, Lars Green, EVP and CFO of Novozymes, Mauricio Graber, President and CEO of Chr. Hansen, and Anders Mohr Christensen, Head of IR and Strategy from Chr. Hansen. Today's call will focus on the stock exchange announcement from this morning that Novozymes and Chr. Hansen have entered into an agreement to create a leading global biosolutions partner. Links to the stock exchange announcement and relevant additional materials, such as this presentation, can be found through our respective company websites, www.power-with-biology.com or www.information-about-business-combination.com. Our speakers today will walk you through why Novozymes and Chr. Hansen believe this combination is a real exciting opportunity for both businesses. We will give you an overview of both companies, what a combined group would look like, and how we would be able to advance faster and further together. There will also be an opportunity for questions to our three presenters at the end of the presentation. The Q&A session will be introduced by the operator, who will also instruct you how to get in line to ask questions. Please limit yourself to two questions per person, so that we have time to hear questions from as many of you as possible. The total session will last for one hour sharp. With that, I'll now hand you over to our CEO at Novozymes, Ester Baiget. Ester, please. Thank you. Thank you, Tobias. We're really excited to be speaking with all of you this morning, and I also want to extend a special warm welcome to Mauricio for joining us today at this transformational moment for both of our businesses. We're looking forward to taking you through the strategic rationale behind the proposed statutory merger and showing you how a combination of two leading companies will be even better together. As one combined group, we will accelerate our performance by leveraging our complementary expertise, our powerful capabilities, and our shared purpose to continuously drive innovation. We will do this together with our customers. I would like to leave the word to Mauricio, CEO of Chr. Hansen. Thank you, Ester, and thank you for your kind words. We're really excited about this combination, where we will together leverage our unique expertise and capabilities in an even stronger way, driving more value to customers around the world. The combination of the two companies is a clear opportunity to increase performance, not only in the short term, but especially for the longer term. This combination is a win for both company stakeholders, from shareholders to customers to employees, and will drive us forward in a way we would have not been able to do on a standalone basis. With this, I hand back to you, Ester. Thank you. Thank you, Mauricio. I couldn't agree more. Now, please, if you could turn to slide 4. Thank you. Let me share with you why we see clear value in bringing our companies together. The combination will create a leading global biosolutions partner to our customers, with broad biological toolbox and a diversified portfolio that can help address global megatrends in an even stronger way. Our combined group will be science-based company. Our science will continue to be agnostic to the market. We will pursue innovation and R&D that will open up additional opportunities across value chains and different sectors. Together, we will have an increased scale and efficiency and more capabilities to cross-fertilize and unlock new growth opportunities by translating needs into tangible biosolutions for our customers. The combined group will also be an even stronger home from top talent, bringing in together a passionate and diverse group of employees with the skills and ambitions to drive positive impact to the planet and to the world. As we've noted, we are two companies with a shared Danish heritage, a purpose-driven culture, and a complementary values with legacies rooted in innovation. We will continue to be a respected voice on sustainability issues with clear ESG commitments now with an even larger impact. By aligning our unique capabilities from lab to global scale, the two companies can achieve significant synergies and maintain an attractive growth and financial profile. We expect to continue to deliver accelerated, sustainable, and de-risked organic revenue growth more than what our companies would have been able to achieve on a standalone basis. Let me go through the opportunity set that we are positioned to capture and why now, why now is the right time to combine. Could you please turn to slide number 5? Thank you. We live in a pivotal moment for society, a moment where we're facing growing needs and demands from growing population on top of an energy crisis and food crisis that we have not seen for a long time. This increases pressure on natural resources and hence increases demand for natural and sustainable solutions. Our customers are facing the same challenges. With that, also the same opportunities. Delivering enhanced profitability, winning consumers, facing increasingly demand regulations, and embracing the responsibility to be good corporate citizens. Altogether, we believe biotechnology will be a key driver of the fourth industrial revolution and connect these global megatrends and customer demands. We estimate the current addressable market for biological solutions is around EUR 50 billion and growing. According to the World Economic Forum, the economic impact for biological solutions will grow three times by 2040. We believe that together we will be even better positioned to be the bridge for customers and society, and increase our share of value as well as our share of relevance. That's why this is the right thing to do, and now is the right time to do it. Let's remind us of the strong bases we are starting from, turning into page number 6, please. Novozymes is driven by a strong purpose of finding biological answers that will enable lives in a growing world. We are a world leader in biological solutions and the world largest provider of fermented proteins. With a clear strategic direction set out last year, we're becoming even better at executing in our innovation and commercial agenda with a strong focus on prioritization. We are already starting to harvest the benefits from this approach. When we look at the vast opportunities in front of us, we invest in and prioritize those projects that maximize returns and impact. We've long admired Chr. Hansen excellent business, and it's been a real privilege to work together with Mauricio and his team. Let me hand the word to Mauricio. Thank you, Ester. Guided by our strong purpose to grow a better world naturally, Chr. Hansen has in the past years shown strong progress on our strategic ambition to differentiate as a bioscience company focused on our microbial and fermentation technology platforms. We have reinvested in our core businesses in dairy, human, and animal health, all of which have shown resilient growth. We have leveraged our microbial platform into new areas such as bioprotection, plant health, live biotherapeutic products, and plant-based alternatives. We have extended our business into new areas such as HMOs. This has given us a strong platform to succeed from, and I am excited about the combination of these two great companies rooted in a strong Danish heritage, but with a global mindset. The NewCo will be even better positioned to deliver industry-leading, profitable organic growth in an ever-changing world. The success of the new company will be enabled by the large group of passionate employees across the two companies and through a relentless focus on innovation, efficiencies, and strong customer relationships. Now, please turn to page seven for a description of the company profile of Chr. Hansen. We are, as I said, a differentiated bioscience company focused on our microbial and fermentation technology platforms with approximately EUR 1.2 billion in revenues and with an EBIT margin before special items of 26.8% in our last financial year, which ended in August 2022. We provide value-added solutions for customers in dairy and other foods and beverages, as well as for customers in the human, animal, and plant health segments. Our microbial solutions, which enable a more sustainable food system and contribute positively to the global health agenda, are based on our bacteria collections of more than 40,000 strains and is protected by a growing portfolio of IP rights. Based on our strong fermentation expertise, we have a consolidated production setup in Denmark, Germany, France, the US, and Brazil, but with a truly global outreach, supported by our comprehensive network of application centers around the world. Not least, we have a very skilled and engaged sales organization with the customers in the center of everything we do every day. With this, I now hand over back to Ester for a look at Novozymes. Thank you. Thank you, Mauricio. Please turn into slide number 8. Novozymes is the world largest provider of fermented proteins, generating around EUR 2.3 billion in sales during the last 12 months, and exposed to a diversified customer base. Our industry-leading innovation capabilities, a strong R&D pipeline, and unique ability to scale production, it has allow us to develop a best-in-class specialized portfolio of highly impactful bio-based solutions for our customers. Novozymes has a similar geographical exposure to Chr. Hansen and similarities in some countries where we're both present. Novozymes offers solutions to a broader number of end markets, and I will go through this later on the presentation. Could you please turn to slide number 9? We see real value in combining the two companies. Each company on its own, it's already a leader in enzymes with advanced bioengineering capabilities, a leader in microbials with deep expertise in dairy and human microbiome. These are world-class fermentation leaders with broad market reach. When combined together, we create a leading biosolution partner, even better equipped to translate customer needs into real, impactful and groundbreaking innovation solutions. When you take this complementary expertise and the strong financial portfolio of both companies, this is how it looks like. It looks like EUR 3.5 billion of revenue, around 26% EBIT margin, and EUR 0.4 billion of free cash flow before acquisitions. It is clearly a one-of-a-kind player at significant biological scale with excellent growth prospects based on already solid financials and returns. Mauricio, please, I pass the word to you for some additional comments. Thank you, Ester. Yes, just a few complimentary points from my side. The scale and reach of the two companies will enable us to do much more and gain additional leverage on the combined technology platforms. There are few, if any, companies that would be able to provide the same unique understanding and deliver value to customers, all based on biology. We have the strong financials needed to back up the future performance that we are jointly aspiring for. Ester, back to you. Thank you. Thank you, Mauricio. Let me now share with you why the complementary strength of the combined group will be even better together as one. Please turn to slide number 10. Together, we will have an even better diversification of our portfolio, giving us attractive positions in key end markets. Our customer-centric global reach will be aligned with our extensive innovation and optimized commercialization capabilities, enabling us to move faster to solve our customer needs. We would be even better, even faster and even stronger by more forcefully capitalizing on our scale, the mega trends and customer demands. We add this to a strong purpose-driven culture with clear ESG commitments and talented and passionate individuals. Adding all these combined strengths together, we can accelerate our presence in existing and in new areas. Please turn to slide number 11. We expect to have exceptional positions across our broad market reach, including one of the largest, world largest commercial microbial and enzymatic libraries. They all have significant positive impact on the planet. Half of the solutions address clear consumer benefits, and the other half enable reduced chemical use and positive climate impact. We believe that together we will be even better equipped to respond to the growing market demand for biological solutions. All areas showed tremendous opportunities for growth. Where both companies are already present with complementary solutions, there is an opportunity for cross-selling and to generate growth and additional value to our customers. In the areas where one company plays today individually, we will be able to provide the connectivity and enable our customers access to a broader range of biosolutions accelerating growth. If there is a wide space, NewCo will be even better equipped to develop new value-added bio-based solutions, responding to society needs, and with that, more growth opportunities. This is a market perspective, let us now look at how our unique innovation production setup would even be better aligned to our customer needs. Could you please turn to slide number 12? Our broad coverage across the world in terms of production and R&D and application centers will provide customers with a partner with both global scale and local presence. NewCo would have 38 R&D and application centers, 23 manufacturing sites, and approximately 2,000 employees in R&D. This stands out in the bio-based sector. With EUR 350 million reinvested into R&D annually, representing an estimated 10%-11% of combined sales. This also stands up out in the bio-based sector. We will be stronger equipped to answer the needs of customers into value-added bio-based solutions by using existing solutions and then leveraging them across our combined commercial reach, or by using advanced discovery and applied research coupled with unparalleled fermentation scale capabilities and bringing new solutions to the market. We talk about the what, we talk about the why, and we talk about the how. Let me show a couple of examples that illustrate how we would be even stronger together and why we are complementary from a full value chain perspective. Please turn into slide 13 for that. These are examples of what the combined biosolutions model would look like in practice. These are two examples. Here are plant-based yogurt and human health. In plant-based yogurt, you see the potential of our combined technology, microbes, enzymes, and proteins. They are all essential components that play roles in separate stages of the full value chain. In the case of human health, you can clearly see the benefits of our combined capabilities across the value chain. We will be able to provide deep insight and knowledge, have significant production at scale, and a very broad reach across markets. In both cases, you can see how would be a leading partner enabling increased penetration of biosolutions that address customer needs and consumer wellness. While these are only two examples, we see many more opportunities from combining the two businesses. NewCo will be even better positioned to develop and to commercialize the biosolutions that our customers are looking for, that our customers are seeking for. This means direct value add for our customers. It's not just our customers who will benefit of the combination of the two companies. Let me show you in slide 14. We will be the home for top talent in our industry globally. We will be the place where you aspire to be, the place where you want to belong, and the place where you want to work. A place of pride. We believe that the combined group share ambition and reputation, our strong ESG commitments, as well our expanded global presence, would reinforce our ability to attract, our ability to retain, and to develop the best talent in the sector. Through this combination, we also see an opportunity to enhance our combined commitment to a healthy planet and sustainable future. Our strong purpose-driven culture and complementary values are inspired by the power of biosolutions. It's also based on the strong heritage of 2 Danish companies with extraordinary track records, which have earned international recognition. Together, we will be even stronger with an even higher capability to drive positive impact. This is a powerful combination of people, a powerful combination of passion and performance. Please turn into slide number 15. We expect to deliver near-cost term synergies between EUR 80 million-EUR 90 million, which also happens to be at the relative cost synergy ratio similar to other transactions in the space. We expect around 40%-50% of the cost synergies to come from cost of goods sold and around 50%-60% from SG&A. On cost of goods sold, we expect that the synergies will come from production optimization, portfolio efficiencies, and procurement savings. On SG&A, we expect the synergies to come from rationalization, third-party contractors, management overlaps, as well as selling and admin overheads. Importantly, we expect very little cost savings in R&D, as this is a key driver for growth. Moving on to revenue synergies, we expect EUR 80 million-EUR 90 million in positive EBIT impact coming from EUR 200 million in annual revenue synergies. The main drivers of revenue synergies come from cross-selling existing solutions and leveraging the geographical and end-market footprint of the two companies. Food and beverages is one of the areas where we see a large part of the revenue synergies and acceleration. Additionally, revenue synergies are expected to benefit from increased penetration in health solutions. We expect that the integration cost for this combination to be around EUR 250 million mark through 2026, of which approximately EUR 50 million will be euros will be capitalized. In terms of sequencing, we expect to achieve cost synergies within 3 years after completion and the revenue synergies within 4 years after completion. Moving into slide 16, where I will provide a view of the path for strong, sustainable growth for the combined group. Fundamentally, NewCo will be able to continue the momentum of two companies and layer on top of that the growth synergies from cross-selling opportunities and innovation efficiencies. There will be continuity of the short-term synergies drivers far into the future, as well as an expected acceleration over time. As we fast-forward longer term, we will capitalize on the combined core competencies of both companies to drive new innovations and broader market access with scale-up capabilities. For example, in food, we'll have the ability to add probiotics or microbes as health functionalization agents. We'll be able to add HMOs as specialized nutrient beyond infant nutrition, as well as develop new enzymes and new strains to accelerate the development of plant-based nutrients in dairy or meat. The combined group will increasingly be able to meet tomorrow's society needs with biosolution that will support societies living in a more climate-friendly manner. For example, imagine moving beyond carbon capture by introduction microbes that will absorb CO2 and bringing into proteins. Food engineering that will bring novel proteins that will create another level of functionalization of food or generating new probiotics. In summary, together, we will be able to accelerate short-term revenue growth, but also harvest sustainable long-term growth and expand our potential beyond what the two companies would have been able to do by its own. With that, I will hand over to Lars, our CFO. Lars, please. Thank you, Ester. Please move to slide 17 for an overview of the combined financials of the two companies for the latest 12 months reported numbers. First, I want to highlight that the figures presented here come from Chr. Hansen's audited annual report for the financial year ended 31st of August 2022, Novozymes' unaudited interim report for the 9 months ended 30th of September 2022 and the 1st quarter of 2021. Additionally, the financial information hasn't been adjusted to 1 conformed set of accounting policies. With that said, NewCo's financial profile is strong and gives us the right to invest in the future. It also reinforces the comment Ester made on a previous slide in that together, the combined company will be greater than the sum of both Novozymes and Chr. Hansen individually, as you can see in the far right-hand column. The combined group's revenue reflects these cross-selling opportunities. The scale and market access that both companies will provide each other, the expanded EBIT margin shows the cost synergies and efficiencies that we expect to capture together. Let me give you an overview of how we think about the combined group's financial expectations and sustainability ambitions on slide 18. NewCo will have more than just a strong combined financial profile, which will be reflected through our financial expectations, financial policy, and sustainability ambitions. The key highlights are that we expect an organic sales growth on a CAGR basis of 6% to 8% until 2025, an EBIT margin of 29% by 2025, excluding integration costs and PPA amortization, and an adjusted EPS number that is mid-single digit% accretive in the third year after completion. We do not expect to issue any additional debt as a result of the transaction. An expected leverage of around 1.3-1.7x net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA at completion. This is also the expected future net debt level. We are also expecting to maintain Novozymes dividend payout ratio of around 50% following completion. Our sustainability ambitions include a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. By 2030, achieve 75% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and 35% reduction in Scope 3 emissions, and a minimum of 45%/45% gender balance across all professionals and senior management by 2030. Please go to the next slide, where I will provide some further details about the transaction. I'm sure this is a familiar format slide for transactions, and we have covered some of the key points on this slide already. Two additional highlights I would like to give are that the consideration reflects a 49% premium to Chr. Hansen's closing share price as of 9 December 2022. The blended premium of 38% is based on a blended exchange ratio of 1.4205, taking into account Novo Holdings approximately 22% stake in Chr. Hansen, which Novo Holdings has agreed to exchange for a less favorable exchange ratio than offered to the free float shareholders. The transaction will need to be approved by two-thirds of the share and voting capital of both companies at their respective extraordinary general meetings. After completion of the merger, Novozymes free float shareholders would own an aggregate 44%, Chr. Hansen free float shareholders would own an aggregate 34%, and Novo Holdings would own an aggregate 22% of the outstanding share capital of the combined group. Finally, Novo Holdings intends to maintain approximately 25.5% ownership of the total share capital of the combined group through incremental cash investments contemplated via purchases of existing shares. Please turn to slide number 20. As the timeline shows, we expect completion in Q4 calendar year 2023 or Q1 calendar year 2024 at the latest. The next significant events will be in the first half of 2023, before the end of June, and include the publication of the exemption documents and the respective extraordinary general meetings for Chr. Hansen and Novozymes shareholders. Pre-completion, we will also see customary regulatory approvals from relevant authorities in a number of jurisdictions where we operate. With this, I would like now to hand it back to Ester for a walk-through of governance and management representation on slide 21. Thank you. Thank you, Lars. The board and leadership of the combined group will represent Novozymes, Chr. Hansen and Novo Holdings. The chair of the board of directors shall be nominated by Novozymes, and the vice chair shall be nominated by Chr. Hansen. On completion, the board of NewCo, excluding the independent chair and vice chair, will be comprised of two appointees, each from Novozymes, Chr. Hansen and Novo Holdings. We plan to launch a branding process to determine a new name and identity that speaks both to our strong respective legacies as well as our stronger future together. One constant and shared characteristic is, of course, our Danish heritage, of which we are very proud, and our headquarters will remain in Denmark. As Lars mentioned, there is a strong endorsement for the combination of the two companies from the main shareholder in Novozymes and in Chr. Hansen. Please turn to page number 22. Novo Holdings support of the combination is a vote of confidence. Confidence from a long-term shareholders in the compelling strategic rationale for bringing the two companies together. Now let's move on to wrap up on slide 23 before we go to the Q&A session. Let me summarize by reiterating that the combination between Novozymes and Chr. Hansen will create a leading biosolutions partner and a truly global leader that leverages the strength of each businesses to deliver accelerated, sustainable and de-risk organic revenue growth. Together, we will increasingly capitalize from the global mega trends and industry trends, leveraging our unique innovation capabilities that can deliver so much more together. The result, a combined group with extraordinary people, a growth partner to our customers, a value creation to our shareholders, and a group that has a positive impact on society and the planet. Let's start now with the question and answer session. Operator, please begin. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star followed by two. If you are using speaker equipment today, please lift the handset before making your selections. Anyone who has a question may press star followed by one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question is from the line of Søren Samsøe with SEB. Your question, please. Yes. Good morning. It's Søren from SEB. Congratulations on this merger announcement. First of all, if you could talk a little bit about more about the cost synergies on the procurement side and also, if there is any. I mean, Chr. Hansen has a very strong competence in the sales organization then also working capital management, if there's any, say, things that the organizations could learn from each other there. Finally, if you could elaborate on the potential synergies in R&D. What could there be of synergies of putting two such strong organizations, R&D organizations together, and also if there could be any risk of negative synergies in this regards. Yes, that's all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Søren. I'll start answering your question and then Lars, please build on the cost synergies. Mauricio please, would be wonderful if you could also bring your perspective from the Chr. Hansen point of view. We are combining two unique companies that each of them it's unique by its kind, and by putting them together, we're creating a company that can even generate more value for all the shareholder, all the stakeholders. For the customers, for the employees and for the society and for the shareholders. You talk about the cost synergies, and that's the synergies, and that's of course a strong pillar of the value generating for the shareholders. EUR 200 million revenue synergies in 4 year. EUR 80 million-EUR 90 million EBIT. On top, EUR 80 million-EUR 90 million EBIT from cost synergies that we have. We have gone through a very deep elaborated plan on both areas, and we feel calm, very comfortable in our capabilities to deliver. All that together, 29% EBIT, 6%-8% aggregated costs. This is a company where you wanna belong. This is a company that we want, that you wanna be part of. This is a company that when you put the R&D capabilities from both companies, coupled with the also strong fermentation and capability to bring solutions into reality, it enables new connections for the customers. We will provide solutions, bio-based solutions that they answer the society needs, that they make the bridge to our customers. We have already elaborated retail plans to ensure that we keep the competencies that make this company unique. Lars, I'll pass it to you. Thank you, Ester. As Ester said, the EUR 80 million-90 million of cost synergies we expect within the first three years. They are comprised of both cost of goods sold opportunities, but also SG&A opportunities. As you sort of asked, Søren, we do see procurement as one such opportunity where we see the best of both companies, so to speak, will enable us to harvest cost synergies on that account. That goes on the particular contracts we have in place each company. On top of that also other synergies such as let's say efficiencies from logistics, from distribution. Our proximity means that we believe that we can generate efficiencies and therefore cost savings from combining, again, the best of both worlds. That also goes for network and capital management as you pointed out. Obviously that's not part of the cost synergies, but more part of a cash flow opportunity for NewCo. We certainly expect to leverage all of those tools that you mentioned. As Ester said, we have done elaborate analysis both sort of on a bottom-up functional basis where we have assessed the different opportunities, but we have also triangulated that against benchmarks of similar or peer combinations that has taken place historically. We believe this is a number that is certainly achievable for NewCo. Thanks for that, and, again, congratulations on this, exciting combination. Just to comment a little bit, Søren, on your question about the sales organization in R&D. I would say, yes, Ester and I have talked a lot about the, you know, sales excellence and how we make sure that the NewCo will get the best of both companies. We will have to articulate what best of both means. Keeping the customers at the center of everything we do, being customer-centric, having innovation that's relevant to customers will definitely be part of the culture of the new company. On R&D, a super exciting journey. This merger comes at the point of a pivotal moment in biosciences, where you will need a broader tool of technologies to drive the solutions for our customers. I see tremendous growth synergies and innovation synergy opportunities in human health, in food cultures and enzymes, and for sure in plant health and animal health. Next question, please. The next question is from the line of Chetan Udeshi with JPMorgan. Your question please. Yeah. Hi. Morning. Thanks for taking my question. I mean, I'm struggling a bit here. I mean, as I hear you're talking about organic growth of, sort of, you know, 6%-8% for the combined entity, and if I'm not mistaken, Ester, you know, for Novozymes, you've talked about a growth of more than 5%. It seems like the incremental delta on growth is not that high, and clearly the execution, to deliver the upside delivering some risks. I'm just curious, like, what was the sort of inclination from the Novozymes side to enter into this transaction? Is it the consolidation or the announcements that you've seen from other players in this broader industry? Because to me, it seems the incremental upside, at least on growth, doesn't seem that high. Maybe I'm missing something. Thanks. Thank you for your for your kind question. Let me answer all of the try to answer all the parts you're bringing in. This we see this important milestone as one step more of giving continuity to our strategy. We are becoming even bolder, even stronger, a true biotechnology, biosolutions powerhouse. enabling connecting factor of the society needs to our customers with solutions based on science, based on biotechnology, based on sustainable solutions that enable to generate growth for our customers and enable to capture also that growth and generate growth for our shareholders. The incremental growth is EUR 200 million revenue in 4 years, EUR 80 million-EUR 90 million EBIT. We see that across a broad toolbox of alternatives that will enable that growth. It's as Mauricio said, from one side, cross-fertilization of existing solutions in the complementary markets. Cross-fertilization in human health of solutions from one company to the other and extending also taking advantage of the broader value reach and differentiated spaces of the value chain. Cross-fertilization from culture and enzymes in food, bringing further functionalization to customers, cross-fertilization in animal, cross-fertilization in ag. If you look long term, that's exactly the part that we are very excited. I mean, on addition of the EUR 200 million short-term revenue synergies, and the EPS accretive at 3 years after closing, we are extremely excited about the accelerated long-term growth. That's when you start harvesting the connection and the power of R&D and the power of the two leading fermenting companies even better together. Here's when you start bringing HMO beyond infant formula and as a functionalization in food. Here's where you start developing new proteins and new microbes together as also functionalizing of alternatives. This is when you bring solutions for regenerative agricultural replacing pesticides. Imagine also not only carbon capture, but develop microbes that they capture that carbon and translate it into value-added solutions. That's the power of the company that we're putting together, and that's a response of a continuity to your first question also on the strategy that we put together. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Lars Topholm with Carnegie. Your question, please. Yes, a couple of questions. First, congrats to both of you, Ester and Mauricio, for this combination, and I guess to you as CFO. A couple of questions on my side. From a Chr. Hansen shareholder's perspective, what has been done to ensure this is the best deal achievable? Has it been reached out to other potential partners that could acquire Chr. Hansen or are there not any other interested parties? That's my first question. My second question, in one of the slides you talked about a de-risked innovation. I just wonder if you can put some words on how you de-risk it and what that means in terms of long-term growth, assuming your R&D budget will not be affected by this in relative terms. Thank you. Thank you, Lars. I'll take your second question, then, of course, Mauricio answer your first question. De-risk innovation by connecting dots in a stronger and more structured way. Connecting dots making the cross-fertilization in the segments that we are complementary, and we can bring solutions for our existing customers. As I mentioned, cross-fertilization in health, cross-fertilization in ag, cross-fertilization in food and beverages of existing solutions, connecting the dots in the areas where we can bring new solutions together in a stronger way. Developing enzymes and microbes together that's symbiotic, they generate an accelerated or even a stronger benefit for our customers in food functionalization. Connecting the dots being in protective biocultures that today they use in dairy into baking. Those are the type of de-risk innovation that we talk at the medium and short term, but then also connecting the dots at the longer term of bringing new solutions for the society needs. We live in a pivotal moment for the society, that the world is seeking for new answers to respond the big challenges we're facing ahead. Together, with an even stronger, not percentage of revenue of R&D sales, but even a stronger R&D budget and even a stronger scale-up capability and a stronger global reach, coupled with the terrific capabilities from the both companies to listen to the customer regionally and translate to solutions globally, we will be even better positioned to capitalize on the long-term growth. Ester, does this imply that, I mean, now you mentioned 6%-8% organic growth, which is just a combination of the current targets for Novozymes and Chr. Hansen. For this to be successful, would that imply over time that growth rate accelerates, or is that too optimistic? We see an accelerated de-risked long-term growth for both companies for just all the arguments that I mentioned before. Makes sense. Thanks. I'll take the first part of your question, Lars. Thank you. Good morning. You know, we have considered a number of alternative options with the interest of the company and its shareholders as our guiding principle. We believe the proposal from Novozymes is really very compelling and presents a strong strategic rationale. We will be able together to address the changing customer demands, as we mentioned in the presentation, but also the global megatrends even better by combining these two great Danish champions as a global bioscience leader. I would just add, if you think about it, with the structure of the transaction, it provides a premium to the Chr. Hansen shareholders that will benefit from both the attractive premium short term and a significant ownership in the combined company, and therefore a meaningful economic exposure to the proposed transaction benefits that Esther just described. No, Mauricio, that I get, but that didn't really answer my question if any other potential interested acquirers have been approached. You're absolutely certain this is the best price? Well, we conducted a comprehensive review of the proposal with our advisors, Lars, taking into account historical performance, and believe the offer represents the best and fair offer for our shareholders. Thank you. Thanks, Mauricio. Very clear. Thanks for taking my questions. The next question is from the line of Sebastian Bray with Berenberg. Your question please. Hello, good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. My first one is on potential remedial divestments. Ester, at the start of the call, you gave the broad definition of a EUR 50 billion market for biosolutions. If I look at some of the areas where the two businesses overlap, in particular I'm thinking about, BioAg or agricultural solutions, the markets are much smaller and the extent of overlap is larger. Are you expecting to have to make any remedial divestments in any geographies of significant scope to get this deal through? I appreciate the business is not going to move from Denmark, but could I just double check there's no expected change in the combined interest and tax charges related to the group? I noticed that the trailing 12-month financials only went down to the EBIT line. Thank you. Thank you, Sebastian. I will let Lars answer your second question. Regarding to your first question, we have done an extensive work on assessing, also with external advisors, the feasibility of delivering both on the growth synergies, cost synergies, and then of course of completing and bringing all the supporting and required information to equip the authorities to ensure we can complete the transaction within the milestones that Lars indicated. We are extremely complementary from a market perspective and exposure. We see the benefit that we're bringing from our for our customers by creating new capabilities and new, solutions and connecting, answers that will provide even them the strength and the position to capitalize on additional growth. Lars? On the taxes, just highlighting that we intend to implement this as a tax-exempt merger according to the Danish Merger Tax Act. On the sort of the results at the post-tax level, we are guiding you to a mid-single digit percentage accretive accretion level 3 years after completion. That sort of gives you an indication of the of the post-tax contribution from the from the combination. That's helpful. Thank you. Just to clarify, Novozymes, to my understanding, has 50% market share in the global market for enzymes. I think Chr. Hansen has some of its own production in-house. I'm just wondering, when going to discuss this with the regulators, why would they say yes to a deal with at least the two parties with significantly more than 50% share? Or am I missing something here? We have a share which is below 50. You know I cannot speak on how the authorities will respond. That will be extremely inappropriate for me. We have done an extensive amount of work across all areas to make us ready and for the day of today. That work has not only been done internally, also with the support of external advisors. That's helpful. Thank you for taking my questions. The next question is from the line of Alexander Jones, Bank of America. Your question please. Good morning. Thanks very much for taking my questions. The first one just on from Novozymes' side on how the logic behind the price you've paid and how that creates value for Novozymes shareholders. I guess to put it another way, you've talked about EPS accretion. Could you give us some indication of the return that you'd expect on this deal. Then the second question, just around the integration process, how you think around the risks of that and how quickly you intend to combine, the teams together. Thank you. Maybe I'll start the answering the question. Then Lars, please, build on it. Regarding the integration process, we have, we see, first, this, the milestone we're going ahead is one step more on the implementation of our strategy and consistent with the momentum and the direction that we have been walking the talk in the last quarters and years. We're gonna continue to set the foundation and implement the same principles of our strategy: prioritization, market focus, accountability. We're putting two companies with complementary capabilities, with complementary market exposure and a strong Danish heritage with sustainability on its core heart. We have done, as I mentioned, a deep analysis with and with high-quality work, including support from external advisors. We have a very well-elaborated plan on how to deliver the synergies and how to materialize on them. We feel we are in a good place. We are in a place in comfort. Regarding the integration, we know how good looks like. Personally, I have gone myself through transformative milestones in my 25-year tenure beyond also Novozymes, and we have the retention plans to retain the critical skill sets. This is a company of growth. This is a company based on science, strong science foundation. This is a company based also on amazing human talent. The combination of these two companies, it will just be based especially on the amazing people from both companies that will be forming the team of future NewCo. Lars? Yeah. On the value creation, you know, we are confident that this premium reflects the strength and the long-term growth potential of the combined group, which we believe will have a highly attractive financial profile with strong growth revenues and with strong growth in revenues and also attractive margins. As we have highlighted in the deck here, we expect to deliver short-term sales synergies to the tune of EUR 200 million in the first four years after completion, and on top of that, deliver short-term cost synergies of EUR 80 million-EUR 90 million in the first three years after completion. We believe that this combined NewCo can generate sustainable accelerated growth beyond that period. We believe this is highly attractive. We believe this will also create value for Novozymes shareholders. We think and believe that this all stock nature of the transaction will also allow us to have the opportunity to continue to invest in the business, develop the synergies and maintain a healthy balance sheet. I think the best way to express it is that the mid-single digit accretion in earnings per share 3 years after close, I think is a reflection of the value that we believe will also be generated for Novozymes shareholders. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alex Sloane with Barclays. Your question please. Yeah. Hi. Morning. Question from me on the on the margin target for the combined group. Obviously, Chr. Hansen had a standalone target for 2020 or fiscal 25 of an EBIT margin above 30%. Just wondering if you can confirm, is that in your base case the for the combined target? Obviously achieving that for Chr. Hansen, a big driver was expected to be reducing the margin dilution from the from the HMO business, from Jennewein. I'm just interested, does the combination and Novozymes obviously expertise in fermentation technologies mean there's any scope to accelerate the insourcing of production there of HMOs? Thanks. Lars and Mauricio, please. Yeah. on the question, the targets that Chr. Hansen has today, of course forms the foundation together with the targets that we have at Novozymes, plus the synergies that we have outlined. Those are in principle, the factors that have been put together in order to identify the financial expectations of NewCo to 2025. I can confirm the, let's say, the logic of how that expectation has been set. Thank you, Alex, for your question. Building on what Lars just said, indeed, as you saw the, you know, our 2025 financials, financial ambitions is what's being reflected in the 2025 information presented for the NewCo. I had always consistently said that in order to achieve our 2025 EBIT margin of 30%, we will need to continue to drive our productivity efficiencies, drive the synergies from our acquisitions of UAS Labs and HSO, and build positive momentum in the margin development for HMO. All of those three factors are on target, on plan, and you bring forward a very important point and a great example of the synergies for the NewCo would be how the tremendous enzyme capabilities of Novozymes would enable us to accelerate the best-in-class production process for HMOs. While we will have to build those plans together in the future is another example of a great opportunity of combining the technology platforms of both companies that will significantly benefit the future development of HMOs. Thank you. Next question. There are no. Okay. There are no further questions. Okay. at this time. Excellent. I hand back to CEO Ester Baiget. Oh, we have a follow-up question. Oh, okay. If we have the time. Yeah. Sure. The next question is from the line of Søren Samsøe with SEB, a follow-up question. Your question please. Yes, it was just a question on the HMOs side, where you have paused your major investment into a very big production facility in Denmark. To the Chr. Hansen side, I mean, will this be taken up to consideration now? Is there anything you can do in the combined business that you couldn't do before? Just your thoughts on that. Thank you. Thank you, Søren. Absolutely. I think what we have said is we have paused the investment of the HMO in Kalundborg, and that we would sequence our investments into this based on the market developments. For now, we have capacity to deliver what the market needs based on the e-expansion of our downstream facility in Germany. For sure, it will be a consideration for the NewCo how to best deploy the capital in investments for the future. I am sure that with the technology from Novozymes, we will be able to develop production process with a lot more productivity and assess the capital required for the future. Absolutely, Mauricio Graber. And Søren, I mean, it was also another question. You're nailing here, and you're bringing one of the pillars and the fundamentals of the strength of why these two companies are meant to be together. We are combining the leader on enzymes and bioengineering capabilities with a leader on fermentation and microbial capabilities. These are two science-based solutions based on nature that combine holistically. They can generate even more value for our customers. They can bring even better solutions that answer society most pressing needs across all fronts by enabling healthier lives, by bringing better foods, by also by enabling lower use of chemicals, lower energy use, better agricultural, replacing pesticides across a broader range of markets. This is the company we're putting together. We. For one proof point of the strength of the long-term growth potential of this company is the support of the main long-term shareholder of both companies. We see this support as a strong sign of the value that these two companies together, the value that this new company can unleash for the shareholders and for the society at large. We have one last question coming in the line, operator. The last question is from the line of Charles Bentley with Jefferies. Your question please. Brilliant. Thanks, Ester. If I could make it two questions, that's... if that's okay. One, just on the revenue synergies, I mean, they appear very high relative to, I mean, even kind of recently announced kind of peer mergers. I mean, that to me, we've kinda seen kinda like, essentially challenges in terms of realizing some of these synergies of deals in the sector historically. If you can kinda help me kind of understand kind of the building blocks behind how you've got to that number and why you think it's where you think it's kinda concentrated from a product portfolio perspective. That would be very helpful. The second one was just on merger approvals. I mean, which are the main jurisdictions you'll need to get them, and which do you think will take the longest? Thank you. Excellent. I will bring color on the first question and then let Lars build on your second question. We have done an extensive amount of work, not only internal, but also with external support that makes us very confident on our capability to deliver the growth synergies. We're talking about two companies that they are complementary in existing in across a broad range of markets. The short term, we see the synergies in both ways, short term and long term. Let me go one by one on the fundamentals of both. On the near term, from for the EUR 200 million growth synergies that we're putting on the table and that we are gonna show you that we deliver in the next years after we close. They come by cross-fertilization and making new connections to existing customers with solutions that they already exist. They come by bringing health solutions, probiotic solutions from one company and the other together on our existing customer base on different steps of the value chain. They come by combining enzymes and microbes in solutions and food, by bringing protective cultures from dairy into baking, providing a functionalization that today none of the two companies can do. They come by making cross-fertilization of existing solutions in beverages, in animal nutrition, in BioAg. They come also by making new innovation and making connections of existing solutions beyond the space that we could be. Like, we talk on HMO beyond infant formula. They come by developing new proteins and enzymes and microbes that together they can provide different, completely different value-added solutions for our customers, for sugar replacement, for functionalization in meat and protein. They come by combining also again, the expertise of one company to other by answering new questions of the society. I talk about carbon capture and then use of that carbon, but also fertilizer replacement by the combination of microbes and enzymes. They come by the synergistic potential of the two companies on what they're both very strong, enzymes, microbes, and bringing complex solutions into scale, into value-added solutions for our customers. Lars. Yeah. On the regulatory approval, I don't think there's so much more we can add at this point, except to repeat that we have undertaken extensive work to prepare for this day and this announcement and make sure that we are ready to file and engage with the relevant regulators. That's what we can say at this point in time. We will start immediately the process of filing in the relevant jurisdictions, and we will update you as we learn more. Thank you all, for listening in and for joining us in this very important day. We will meet with many of you in the next coming days as we go in the road. Please also do not hesitate to contact any of our R&D departments of our respective companies for follow-up. Thank you so much.