Frutarom buys up natural ingredients

Swiss plant extracts business Emil Flachsmann has been bought by flavours multinational Frutarom, for an undisclosed sum, the companies said this week. The integrated businesses will become an important player in flavours and plant extracts with an expected sales volume of more than $150 million.

Privately-owned Flachsmann​, which produces flavours, pharma-grade plant extracts as well as extract-flavour compounds and applications for the food and pharmaceutical industries, has plants in Switzerland, Canada and Scandinavia as well as marketing and sales offices in Germany and Hungary.

The firm has synergies with Frutarom's Compounds/Flavours and Fine Ingredients divisions and has been active in health ingredients for some time. Flachsmann launched a Green Mate extract for use in sports nutrition or weight loss products at Vitafoods this year.

The acquisition expands the Frutarom Group's international presence, especially in Western Europe. The Flachsmann marketing and sales offices in Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Hungary will be added to Frutarom's sales network, particularly in markets where Frutarom has less significant presence.

Frutarom will also integrate Flachsmann's R&D and intellecutal know-how, increasing momentum for on-going product innovation at the new business. New customers from the leading multinational food and pharmaceutical manufacturers, in Switzerland and Germany and Eastern Asia markets, including Korea and Japan, will join the Frutarom customer base.

Frutarom Industries​, a subsidiary of Switzerland's ICC Handel, currently has production sites in Israel, the USA, the UK, Russia, Turkey, China, and Romania, plus marketing offices in France, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Brazil, India, and Hong Kong.

The company markets fragrance compounds and ingredients, as well as other speciality products, for customers in the food, beverage, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors.