DSM to acquire Cargill’s cultures and enzymes business for €85 million

Royal DSM has reached an agreement with Cargill to acquire Cargill’s cultures and enzymes business for €85 million.

Cargill’s cultures and enzymes business manufactures cultures and enzymes for the dairy and meat industries with manufacturing operations in the US and France. The business generates net sales of about €45 million and has around 200 employees.

The enzymes and cultures market is valued at over €1 billion, and is growing steadily at more than 5% per year. The market’s growth may be due to the increasing diversity of dairy products, which requires versatile culture offerings to enhance taste, texture and mouthfeel characteristics as well as convenience and health benefits such as reduced fat and lower sugar.

DSM believes that combining the cultures and enzymes business of Cargill with the dairy business of DSM Food Specialties will create a strong global player, enabling DSM to propel sales growth, capture sizable synergies in global manufacturing and customer reach as well as develop innovation capabilities in biotechnology and SG&A.

The acquisition is part of DSM’s strategy to become a tier-one supplier of cultures and enzymes to the global dairy market. The acquisition further strengthens DSM’s global position in dairy ingredients with enzymes, PUFAs, vitamins, cultures, probiotics, bioactives, preservation systems and tests.

The Cargill acquisition is the eighth in DMS’s Nutrition cluster since it announced its corporate strategy in 2010.