Cognis Buys Vinyals S.A.

ROERMOND, Netherlands--Cognis B.V., the holding company of the chemical activities of the Henkel Group, acquired Barcelona, Spain-based Laboratorios Dr. Vinyals S.A., to enter the botanicals extracts market.

According to Carmen Arias, business director of Cognis' new Botanicals Unit and European manager of Cognis, said the acquisition bodes well for the company's expansion into a variety of markets. "The potential for new applications goes far beyond their more traditional uses in dietary supplements and pharmaceutical preparations," she said.

Vinyals S.A. currently supplies a range of botanicals to the market, including standardized dry extracts, purified extracts and a wide range of licorice derivatives. More than 70 percent of existing Vinyals sales are outside the Spanish market; how the acquisition will affect existing and new business is unknown.

However, one existing Vinyals customer, P.L. Thomas (PLT), issued a release that it would maintain its close relationship with Vinyals, which has been PLT's primary source for European origin botanical extracts. According to Paul Flowerman, PLT's president, meetings between PLT, Vinyals and Cognis have established a "solid basis for continued business cooperation directly between PLT and the Spanish factory" with strengthened business support by the new ownership.

Cognis' 2000 sales topped 3.2 billion euro with an operating profit of 220 million euro. The Cognis division has almost 9,100 employees in close to 50 countries, and is online at www.cognis.com.