February 18, 2014
Lesaffre acquires Omniabios and Agrauxine to strengthen plant bio-protection, green chemistry
Antoine Baule, CEO of Lesaffre, recently announced the acquisition of Omniabios in Italy, and Agrauxine in France to further the company's focus on emerging domains like plant bio-protection and green chemistry.
Lesaffre intends to extend its market share in emerging domains like plant bio-protection and green chemistry (notably as regards the development of second-generation bioethanol). By stepping up its sales presence, intensifying development and increasing its production capacity, Lesaffre expects these domains intends to bring in 30% of its revenues in five years' time.
This growth ambition is underscored by two recent acquisitions. In December 2013, Lesaffre acquired Omniabios, an Italian company with expertise in purifying the S-Adanosyl-L-methionine molecule (or SAMe). SAMe is a natural product of the human body, and used to produce other molecules, including hormones, proteins, brain chemical messengers, and natural antioxidants. As a food supplement, it is primarily used to relieve osteoarthritis and depression.
Lesaffre also concluded the acquisition of French company Agrauxine specialising in plant bio-control and bio-nutrition at the end of January this year. Its products are developed using natural microorganisms, fungi and bacteria, and used to nourish and protect crops in an environmentally respectful manner. Its accredited offering includes products that target grapevine trunk diseases, a blight that affects wine growers across the world and for which there was hitherto no solution.
"There is significant overlap between our core business, developing yeast and baking ingredients, and the bio-sourced ingredients (yeast, bacteria, enzymes, etc.) used in nutrition, health and some aspects of environmental protection," stated Baule.
As a living organism, yeast can have excellent probiotic qualities. The nutritional content of inactive yeast has numerous health and well-being benefits for humans, animals and plants. It can be used in a wide variety of applications, including cosmetics, pharmacy, biotechnology, and agriculture.
Lesaffre designs, manufactures and markets solutions based on yeast and other fermentation products that promote baking, nutrition, health and protection of living organisms. Family group founded in 1853, based in northern France, earned an €1.56 billion (US$2.14 billion) in revenue in 2013. Its products are sold in more than 180 countries, and it employs 7,700 people through 70 subsidiaries located in some 40 countries.
