Naturex Buys Pektowin

AVIGNON, FranceNaturex, a supplier in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, has agreed to entered to acquire all the capital of Zpow Pektowin SA (Pektowin) a Jaslo, Poland-based producer of apple and citrus pectins, fruit and vegetable juice concentrates and, for a smaller proportion, the preparation of processed food products. Naturex forged the agreement with the Polish Industrial Development Agency (Agencja Rozwoju Przemysu S.A - ARP), and full completion of this acquisition is subject to the final agreement of the Polish Ministry of the Treasury, which is expected to confirm the acquisition by the end of January 2012.

This represents the second acquisition this year for Naturex, which bought Burgundy Botanical Extracts in October 2011. According to Naturex, the Pektowin acquisition fits in perfectly with the Naturex strategy to accelerate its international development, expand its product range and strengthen its industrial presence, particularly in emerging countries. Naturex became one of seven manufacturers of pectins worldwide in December 2009 when it acquired Natraceutical, including a plant located in Bischofszell (Switzerland). The Pektowin acquisition will help Naturex  strengthen its manufacturing base in pectins, but also to benefit from a significant scalability in order to best meet customer needs.

Pektowin is located at the heart of one of the major region of raw materials used for the production of apple pectins and maintains a high-capacity industrial tool dedicated to the production of apple and citrus pectins, and the company. This tool will enable Naturex to broaden its product range to fruit and vegetable juice concentrates in order to supply its factories in Switzerland, to boost its new range of colorants, such as Vegbrite, and  to offer its customers, a complete range of fruit and vegetable juice concentrates.

According to Naturex, the Pektowin acquisition also provides an opportunity to gain a new production capacity in the field of juice concentrates, as Petkowin produces more than 6,000 tons of fruit (mainly apples) and vegetable (especially red beets and black radishes)concentrates each year, making it one of the main Polish producers of juice concentrates.  

"This new acquisition is perfectly in line with our growth strategy in complementary markets with a broadened product portfolio, a strengthened production capacity as well as an additional industrial know-how," said Jacques Dikansky, president and CEO of Naturex. Pektowin draws about 33 percent of its revenues from Poland with the rest coming from Russia and other Eastern European countries, promising Naturex a stronger presence in this region. To support the clients and market efforts in this region, Naturex plans to open a sales office in Warsaw.