Firmenich, the world's largest privately owned perfume and taste company, has acquired the CO2 extraction business from Evonik Industries AG located in Trostberg, Germany.
WHO: Firmenich is the world's largest privately-owned perfume and taste company, founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895. Driven by its purpose to create positive emotions to enhance well-being, naturally, Firmenich has designed many of the world's best-known perfumes and tastes, bringing delight to over four billion consumers every day. Renowned for its world-class research and creativity, as well as its leadership in sustainability, each year, Firmenich invests 10% of its turnover in R&D to understand and share the best that nature has to offer responsibly. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 3.9 billion Swiss francs at the end of June 2019.
Evonik is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. The focus on more specialty businesses, customer-oriented innovative prowess, and a trustful and performance-oriented corporate culture form the heart of the corporate strategy. They are the lever for profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company. Evonik benefits specifically from its customer proximity and leading market positions. Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2018, the enterprise with more than 32,000 employees generated sales of €13.3 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of €2.15 billion from continuing operations.
WHY: This acquisition significantly expands Firmenich's capabilities in supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), complementing its Naturals Centre of Excellence in Grasse, France. With more than 30 years of experience in botanical raw material extraction, the CO2 business of Evonik will enhance Firmenich's ability to address customers' growing demand for authentic, natural taste and scent experiences. CO2 extraction offers the safest, cleanest, and highest-quality method of extracting natural botanical molecules, from flowers and nuts to coffee and tea.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "Firmenich has been a pioneer in CO2 extraction for three decades, creating game-changing, natural ingredients, such as the unique spicy notes of pink pepper," Patrick Firmenich, Chairman of the Board, Firmenich, said in a statement. "With this acquisition, I look forward to expanding our capacity in naturals to delight consumers with sustainably produced new ingredients."
This technology strengthens our leadership in naturals by enabling us to capture the exact, authentic and vibrant notes we want from natural ingredients," said Gilbert Ghostine, CEO, Firmenich. "Complementing our established leadership in Perfumery and quadrupling our CO2 extraction capacity, this acquisition gives us the scope to apply SFE to a wider range of flavor products, such as peanuts, tea, and coffee.
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